Psalm 119:11

I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.

Is Sin Still An Issue For A Christian?

It is and will be until we leave these old bodies behind. We don’t just make mistakes, or have flaws, or exhibit shortcomings, or tiny imperfections, WE SIN.

We shouldn’t though, even though we always will, we must strive not to. We wage war against sin and turn against it every day the best we can. Not to earn our salvation but because we have been saved and are now children of the Holy God.

This verse in Psalm 119 is a short and simple statement from the psalmist. He tells us that he has stored up God’s words in his heart so that it might keep him from sinning against God.

What Does It Mean To Store God’s Word In The Heart?

Throughout scripture and life we use the word heart to mean more than the muscle beating in our chest, we know it has a deeper meaning but maybe we don’t put it into words so often.

The heart is our core, our center, the place of emotion, of love, of intellect, where we express ourselves from. It can also be negative as sometimes the emotions we carry there are cold and dark and full of hate.

When we store God’s words in our heart we are doing more than just memorizing scripture although that is part of it. It is knowing the word, subscribing to the meaning of God’s words, loving His words, and finding hope in his words and leaning on them in faith, trusting that what He has said is true.

How Is It That God’s Word Might Keep Us From Sinning?

Ephesians 6:17 has a little insight into this as well when it tells us to “take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” because of what we read in the previous verses 11-12 when it says “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

God’s word is part of the equipment He gives us to stand against evil and the schemes of the Devil which often lead us to sin. But how? We can’t believe and trust in what we don’t know!

When we read and store up God’s word in our hearts our faith in the truth of scripture grows, we are strengthened through the Holy Spirit to overcome sin and all its desires because our focus is put on Christ rather than the world.

The Opposite Must Be True As Well

A saying I’ve heard many times goes like this, “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible”.

Oh, how true I have personally found this statement to be over the decades of my Christian walk. When we find ourselves in sin we tend to gravitate away from the things of God, His word, His church, the fellowship of other believers, and prayer. All these things can seem to take a backseat when we are struggling with sin.

Use God’s Way To Escape Your Sin

The devil’s schemes are hard to overcome because the very nature of the sin we are in will try to keep us from the things of God. But we must overcome! We are more than conquerors!

Romans 8:34-39

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Pick up God’s word and read Christian, store it in your heart, take up your sword!

Fall on your knees before God in confession and repentence.

1 John 8:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Renew your faith in Christ as a child of God and put all your trust in Him and what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do!

Hebrews 7:25

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.