Word For The Day: Protection From Sin

“This book (the Bible) will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book” (John Bunyan). The words of Bunyan are still true today for every one of us; one of the main reasons we sin constantly and experience no victory over our temptations is because we spend very little time in God’s Word, and seldom do we meditate on it and treasure it in our hearts. In this regard, there is so much we can learn from the life of King David.

I have treasured your Word in my heart so that I may not sin against You (Psalm 119:11).

What does the text mean?

David was a man that knew the eternal importance of the Word of God in our lives; in fact, the whole chapter (119) is a magnificent piece of writing that relates to the Law of God. David understood that it is not just about reading the Bible in a superficial, mechanical and pharisaical way (reading it should be a given), but we must make it the treasure of our hearts. The heart is where we store up what we love and value, all of our secrets and most valuable possessions are hidden in our hearts, and David’s cry of storing up the Word in his heart is the reality of a life that cherished and delighted in what God has said. He read it daily, he meditated on it day and night and he treasured it more than bread and riches. In fact, in 119:16 he says “I delight in your statues”, in other occasions he says he delights in God’s commandments. He loved the Word so much that even God’s commandments were a delight to him.

Brothers and sisters, making the Word our highest treasure will keep us from sin. Two verses before (9), David says that the only way a young man (and everyone else) can keep his way pure is by keeping his Word. That is where the importance of spending the Word of God lies. It is not a magical formula but the Word of God has supernatural power to keep you from that which is evil, but if you treasure evil and worldly things in your heart, then sin will keep you from spending time with God.

What does it mean to me?

Dear brethren, there is no way you can experience victory over sin and temptation if you do not spend time in the Word. It is a like a vicious cycle: you sin because you stay away from the Bible and then you stay away from the Bible because sin is keeping you away from it. There are times when we treasure some hidden sins in our hearts and they keep us from God’s Word, such as pride, laziness, passivity, busyness with things that don’t matter, idolatry—loving something else more than God, believing the lies this world tells us, the pursuit of wealth, self-dependence, legalism, even loving our ministry more than the Lord. These and many other sins creep in unnoticed into the bedrooms of our hearts and become a treasure that we do not want to get rid of, but if you are to love God’s Word you must begin a time of repentance and cleansing and begin replacing sin in your heart with the treasure of God’s Word. Do you want to experience victory over sin and temptation? Spend time with God in his Word and make it the most valuable possession of your heart.

God bless you all
Pastor Hector