Contrasts give a clear picture of an issue.
Have you seen a black and white photo recently?  It gives decided contrasts.

In Psalm 1, the LORD gives a positive “picture” of life for those which keep themselves immersed in His words, those who know Jesus as their Savior.

“How blessed is the man (and woman) who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
(NASB) Psalm 1:1-3

The LORD gives contrasts in His word.  Throughout Scripture the living God gives warnings, illustrations, “pictures” so we can better understand the seriousness of life without Christ as Savior and Lord. 

(NASB) Psalm 1:4-5
“The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.”

Those without faith in the Lord Jesus are like chaff – the dead “stuff” of grains.  It is easily blown away by a wind.  For those without Christ as their Savior, they too, are dead and dried up, withered.  Why?  Because their lives are not rooted in the streams of water God provides by  faith in His Son or in His words.

~ Take it to heart ~

(NASB) Psalm 1:6 “For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.”

How does God see your life?
Is your life like a living, productive tree
or is it like dead chaff?