"By keeping it according to Your word"

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By keeping it according to Your word.

With all my heart I have sought You;

Do not let me wander from Your commandments.

You word I have treasured in my heart,

That I may not sin against You.

-Psalm 119:9-11

This morning, verse 9 stood out to me as my sins become more evident. How do I live purely? How do I love purely? How do I think purely? How do I speak purely?

By keeping my way according to God's Word.

I sometimes try hard to "fix" my problems just by doing what I think is logical or just by how I feel, but the true way is God's way found in His Word. And in verse 11 and just the whole Ps 119, the psalmist delights, treasures, clings to the Word. But I don't when I forget the power of it and that it is from my God.

So how do I love purely? what does the Word say about love? 1 Cor 13, 1 John 4:10

How do I think purely? what does the Word say about how we should use our minds? Phil 2:3, Col 2:3

How do I speak purely? what does the Word say about my speech? 1 Peter 4:11, Eph 4:29

How do I live purely? ... by keeping it according to Your word

"Yet I Sin"

From The Valley of Vision

Eternal Father,

Thou art good beyond all thought,

But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind;

My lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel,

and my ways reluctant to amend

I bring my soul to thee;

break it, wound it, bend it, mould it.

Unmask to me sin's deformity,

that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.

My faculties have been a weapon of revolt against thee;

as a rebel I have misused my strength,

and served the foul adversary of thy kingdom.

Give me grace to bewail my insensate folly,

Grant me to know that the way of transgressors is hard,

that evil paths are wretched paths,

that to depart from thee is to lose all good.

I have seen the purity and beauty of thy perfect law,

the happiness of those in whose heart it reigns,

the calm dignity of the walk to which it calls,

yet I daily violate and contemn its precepts.

Thy loving Spirits strives within me,

brings me Scripture warnings,

speaks in startling whispers,

yet I choose devices and desires to my own hurt,

impiously resent, grieve, and provoke him to abandon me

All these sins I mourn, lament, and for them cry pardon.

Work in me more profound and abiding repentance;

Give me the fullness of a godly grief that trembles and fears,

yet ever trusts and loves,

which is ever powerful, and ever confident;

Grant that through the tears of repentance I may see more clearly

the brightness and glories of the saving cross.

living

People who live for tomorrow die wishing. People who live for yesterday die discouraged. People who live for today have no regrets for they are living the very moment.

-Joni Eareckson Tada

forgiven little?

For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.

Luke 7:47

post-it #9 (final post-it)

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ." -Philippians 1:6

post-it #8

"The great design of God's way of salvation is to magnify His glory and bring down human pride." -John Piper

post-it #7

"Most assuredly, if I had merely served man, this would have been a poor recompense; but it is my happiness that I have served Him who never fails to reward his servants to the full extent of His promise." -John Calvin