“He was against it.”

"I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." 
Psalm 119:11 (ESV)

Calvin Coolidge is one of my all-time favorite presidents, a devout man so famously quiet they call him Silent Cal. A reporter bets him a hundred dollars she can get him to say more than two words. He delivers exactly two. "You lose."

Ask him what the preacher talked about that Sunday and Coolidge says, "Sin." What did he say about it? "He was against it." So is God. His Word is against sin. The cross is what He did about it.

In the first half of 1 John 2:1, John writes, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” (ESV) He is not saying that you will never sin. You have been delivered from sin's power, even if you still feel its presence. Sometimes we walk into sin, but if you're in fellowship with God and truly know Jesus, you won't wallow in it. 

Your biggest weapon in this fight is the same one Jesus used against the devil in the desert. Psalm 119:11 says, "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." You have the weapon. The question is whether you have the will to use it. 

When General Cornwallis surrendered, Americans walked into camp and found 144 cannon, thousands of cartridges, and enough supplies to keep fighting for months. It was not that they didn't have the weapons to win. They didn't have the will.

That is exactly what the enemy is hoping you will do with your Bible. Either this Book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this Book.

God is against sin, and He has armed you to be against it too.

Prayer: Lord, I don't want to sin, not because I'm afraid but because I love You. Give me the will to reach for Your Word today, before I reach for anything else. Let it do what Psalm 119:11 promises and keep me from going where I shouldn't go. In Jesus' Name, Amen.