Psalm 119:9-11
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
What is holiness? A short definition is “being set apart for God.” As followers of Christ we are called to be holy, called to yearn for holiness and pursue it. Notice a few of the phrases in these verses:
- With my whole heart I seek you
- Let me not wander
- Might not sin against you
This is a picture of pursuing holiness, and one of the best ways to do this is to approach scripture in this posture. Often we come to scripture like a child trying to hide the fact that we drew on ourselves with permanent marker or cut off a bunch of our hair. We’re here, but we are hiding something, keeping something back. Our posture needs to be that of falling with our whole weight on the word with the prayer of “Lord, give me a whole heart, compel me by your commandments, make sin hateful to me, and fill me with your word so I can resist it.” A desire for holiness, or a desire to desire to holiness (I don’t hate my sin, but I want to) will open our hearts for the word to transform us.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
