I once saw a pithy one-liner which read, “Dust on your Bible will lead to dirt in your life.” and this could not be far from the truth – scriptural truth. Many Christians read the Bible as if it was a “checkbox” activity, seldom taking time to meditate and memorize every inspired word of God (2 Timothy 3:16), as recorded in the Bible. Those who refrain from reading the Bible or who read it for the sake of reading it, often find their lives to be messy and dirty with sin, and then wonder why.
The Psalmist expresses, “Thy [God’s] word have I hidden in my heart, so that I may not sin against you [God].” (Psalm 119:11). The hiding of God’s word within oneself is inversely proportional to the degree of sinfulness within oneself. In other words, the more we hide God’s word within us, the less we sin and the less we hide God’s word within us, the more we sin.
To hide something is a conscious effort. Things get lost, but they don’t hide themselves. We hide things that we value (say jewelry) in a location (say a safe) and remember where we have hidden the thing of value so that we can go back and get it when needed (say to wear it to a wedding). In like manner, we have to consciously take time to meditate (not just read) on God’s word and memorize (hide) it, so that we can use it when needed to combat temptation (Matthew 4) and not sin against God.
Points to ponder:
We must take the pledge to meditate and memorize the word of God, hiding it within ourselves, so that our lives are not messy or dirty – stained with sin. Dust on your Bible will lead to dirt in your life. In other words, an unused Bible will lead to an unusable life in the hands of God. Is your/my life unusable by God? It is written …
Psalm 119:11 (KJV)
11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
