The Bible, Benetton And Hiding The Word Of God In Your Heart

Psalms 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
 
When the Bible talks about “hiding the Word of God in your heart” what does that actually mean?

First of all, lets think about the concept of hiding something. Usually we don’t hide something that is worthless to us. I know as a kid I would try and hide my favorite clothes from my sister, who always wanted to take and wear my Benetton clothes, because I didn’t want them to get ruined or lost, conveniently or otherwise. (Love you sis) Those things held great value to me and I was doing what I knew to preserve and protect them. The bigger question is not how do we hide the Word of God in our hearts it is do we VALUE the Bible enough to even WANT to hide it? The things we value in life get our attention and focus. Many people don’t value the Word of God because they have either never really read it for themselves or were never taught as a child the importance of such an important guidebook for life.
 
So how do we hide the Word? The New Living Translation uses the word “treasure” instead of “hide” which I think is a great word, but I think it is something more. It is more about focus, meaning that if it is important enough for us to hide, and it is in our heart (according to Proverbs 4:23, our heart is where EVERYTHING we do comes from) then we are giving the Bible the highest priority and focus comparing everything we do to it.

This New Year, what we use to compare our actions, thoughts and motives to will matter. So it is paramount that we are getting the Word of God in our minds and in front of our eyes so it can be our focus everyday. I have committed to reading a devotion at night before I go to bed and listening to the Bible on CD in my car when I drive to work in the am. God really impressed on me the first chapter of Psalms that says, “his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates on it both DAY and NIGHT.” The only way I can commit to being a “hider of the Word” is to change my regimen and then expect a different result in life.
 
Today, consider where your relationship with Jesus is and what you can do to increase focus on not just the greatest story ever told, but the only story that can bring real change and contentment in life. This Bible will never be important to people who don’t know Jesus unless they see those principles lived out in your life in the good times AND in the bad.