Freely Speaking Audio Devotion

Welcome to Freely Speaking, an OHSOFREE devotional ministry where we share our hearts and trust God for transformation. 

Today’s devotion was written by Marge Webb.

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” Psalm 119:11(NIV).

Do you realize the first step to sin is rationalization? I guess that’s why I stole candy bars one week during my time at Evangel College in the 1970s. Others were doing it, it was a great bargain, and I had a limited budget. See what I mean? 

At the time, a snack machine in one of the old WWII buildings on campus was suddenly giving out snacks like a slot machine. I put in my money, selected my snack, gave the machine a little shake, then two candy bars fell right out. I enjoyed my gig until it dawned on me that this was cheating. I was sinning. 

David, who wrote the verse above, was a champion sinner. He committed adultery and murder perhaps in the same week. He concocted the murder to justify or hide his sin of adultery.  

While murder, adultery, and stealing are listed in the 10 commandments, there is no measure of “big and little” sins. The Bible mentions more about gossip than murder, but I imagine most reading this have gossiped and very few, if any, have murdered.

Sin is sin. When we continue to sin, we build a wall between ourselves and our relationship with Jesus. It can damage our prayer life and our communion with our Savior. The best way to stop sinning is to hide God’s word in our hearts. Speaking the word gives us strength to battle the enemy and guard against sin. 

The candy bar battle was a tough one to reconcile. The only thing I knew to do was write a note to the guy filling the machines, apologizing for my behavior. Here I was, confessing to fellow students and my professors that I had sinned. I offered to pay for what I had stolen. I never heard from the vendor, but I learned an important lesson that day. 

Think about your struggle with sin. Have you learned tough life lessons because of them?

Thank you for joining us today. If you would like to learn more about OHSOFREE Ministries, please visit us at www.ohsofreeministries.com.