Spiritual Traction

“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”—Psalm 119:11

Snow is everywhere I look. It’s in my driveway, covering my sidewalk, and all over my porch. There’s a great white blanket of the cold powdery stuff over what used to be my yard. Several inches arrived a couple of days ago. The first snow had just left a few days before, leaving behind some very slick patches of ice on my porch and sidewalk. The ice is dangerous, extremely dangerous, and one slip can result in a disastrous injury. And the only way to get rid of the ice is to continually put down salt to melt it away. Without the salt, the ice just continues to grow, waiting for some unwary passerby to trip and fall, becoming yet another casualty of old man winter.

Ice is a bit like sin. It builds up over time and can have disastrous results if left untreated. The ice of sin can cause anyone to fall and get hurt, but it takes the continual application of the salt of the Word of God to keep it at bay. As sin and the world begin to creep up and in, we lay down a layer of biblical truth that melts it away. And we must be diligent in our application, for left untreated, the ice of sin can creep up in a moment, causing us and anyone else who comes upon it to slip and fall.

My dear brother or sister, I pray that the ice of sin may not creep up in your life, but that you may continually lay down a layer of biblical salt, counteracting with the Word of God the sin that so easily entangles us and brings about the fall of so many. May we diligently study the Word and spread its truth across the pathways of our lives, so that we and others may have a secure footing that cannot be shaken. Amen.