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Our Prized Possession (Psalm 119:11)

Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.
Psalm 119:11

It has seemed odd to me in recent years how much effort is required to encourage professing Christians to read, study, memorize and meditate on God’s word. The excuses are endless for neglecting God’s word. It appears that the corresponding consequence is evident in the church as well as in society at large. Where are the people who hate to sin against God? Where are the people who are seeking to be spiritually minded every moment of every day? Where are the people who anticipate divine opportunities each day to share the gospel and minister to believers?

The psalmist understood the value of God’s word and found it to be the greatest treasure of his life. It is interesting that he does not treasure God’s word so God will give him all that he wants. He actually treasures God’s word because he does not want to sin against God. What an incredible objective. This helps us understand how important he considered his relationship with God. His foremost desire is not that God would please him, but that he would please God!

We must consider our own hearts, keeping in mind that the heart is the essence of all that we are. It is not simply emotion. It includes our thoughts and our volition. Do I treasure God’s word in my heart such that it consumes my mind? Does it occupy the choice times of my life or simply what I have left over?

And then we must ask ourselves what our motivations are for treasuring God’s word. It is dangerously easy for our spiritual motivations to be primarily selfish. They may be related to what we want from God or what we don’t want from God. The psalmist reminds us of the seriousness of sin and of the desire every believer should have to put off sin. It is often easier to see the offense of sin against people, but the greatest offense is against God.

We must pray for each other and encourage each other to have such a heart for God’s word and such a love for God that we really do not want to sin against Him!

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate.”
Proverbs 8:13

 

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Rocky Wyatt

Rocky Wyatt came to know the Lord as a young teenager and began working in youth ministry when in college. After serving in churches in Utah, California and Colorado, Rocky moved to Texas to serve as Youth Pastor at Countryside Bible Church. He served there for 26 years where he eventually moved from youth ministry to serve as an Associate Pastor.

Over the course of his ministry, Rocky has always had a desire to train men for pastoral ministry in the context of the local church. In 1992 he started XL Ministries, an organization that is committed to helping churches establish intensive internships for pastoral training. In 2020 he left his position at Countryside Bible Church to become the Executive Director of XL Ministries and now works full time assisting churches in training men for ministry.

He is co-author of The Youth Ministry Training Manual, a textbook for training youth pastors, and has also written multiple other resources for use in various local church ministries. He is currently working on a book to encourage churches to take the primary responsibility to train pastors.

Rocky is married to Pamela, has two sons and daughters-in-law, and ten grandchildren. 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.1 Corinthians 15:58