Proverbs 7:1-5, “My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou artmy sister; and call understanding thykinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.”

Pay attention to God’s Word! To keep, treasure, and bind God’s Word upon your heart and mind is wise. Psalm 119:97, “O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Meditation is not the emptying of the mind, but a filling of the mind with God’s Word, a demand which requires careful reflection rather than careless reading. Obviously, you cannot literally have your nose buried in the Book 24/7. Instead, you ought to lead a God-conscious, Biblically saturated life. This will enable your thoughts, actions, and words to be filtered through a Scriptural grid, and then, with the Psalmist, you will be able to say, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (119:11).

This is not to suggest that the Bible should be used like a sanctified compendium of pithy quotes and sayings. Do not misuse God’s Word in that fashion. The Bible is to form the very fabric and framework of our lives. Biblical theology is not simply theory – an academic exercise divorced from practical reality. Study God’s Word to understand God so that you may live a life that is pleasing unto Him. That will always be what’s for you and others.

Read your Bible in a planned, deliberate, systematic method; not for the purpose of reading alone, not just to meet an arbitrary goal, but in order to keep, treasure, and bind God’s Word upon your heart and mind. As Vance Havner said, “Either sin will keep you from this book, or this book will keep you from sin.”  

Wise up about sin by paying attention to God’s Word!