by Zach Roll

Guarding Hearts, and Seeking God.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments.”
Psalm 119: 9-10 English Standard Version 

We are all philosophers. Every one of us, at some point in our lives, ponders the big questions of life. Why am I here? Why is anything here? How did we get here? What is my purpose? What happens to me when I die? All of us have gone over these questions in our hearts, but now, as Christians, we have new questions to keep our hearts and minds occupied. Psalm 119 asks a very important question: In light of my fallen and sinful nature, how can I keep my life pure? Or, what good can I do to make a pure life a reality?

There is a way to keep our lives pure, but we can’t do it on your own. We have to let God’s Word do the work that we can’t do ourselves. God has made a way for us to be pure again, and to restore us.  He also does not leave us to die in our sin, and fall victim to it. God gives us His Word, literally.

God has revealed Himself to us in the Scriptures, and the Word became flesh in Jesus Christ who dwelt among us to become an atonement for our sins (John 1:14).

Christ did what none of us could ever do. He walked this very earth fully God as well as fully man, and He did not sin. Being fully man, Jesus understands the temptations that we face. He withstood temptation, and withheld from sin for us. He took our place on the cross. Christ is the answer to the Psalmist’s question. When we seek Christ with our whole hearts, we are made pure because of Him, and because of His love for us. He guards us, and when we wander He finds us, and brings us back to safety.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO