Bible Verse of the Day Friday January 15th 2021

 Proverbs 5:22 For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast.

Today's text verse is a crucial reminder for all that believe that God will excuse all sin because of His Grace. Our sin is covered by the precious blood of Jesus; it does not dismiss it. It is a common thought that God will overlook sin if it never sees the light. The problem is that to the only true Light of the World, Christ Jesus, all our sin is in full view. Solomon reminds us here that God has full knowledge of every path we tread, and all we do is in His full view. 

 There was once a crafty burglar that broke into a house, that the homeowners were on vacation. He was sneaking around to the light of his flashlight when he heard a voice say, "Jesus is watching you." After some investigation, he discovered the voice was coming from a Parrot. He asked the parrot what his name was; he said, "Moses." The burglar said who would name a Parrot Moses, to which the parrot replied, "the same people that called their Rottweiler Jesus, and Jesus is watching you (Job 24:15).

When one tries to live with a particular sin that they know they will be committing, day after day, believing it is hidden from the prying eyes of the world, they are deceiving themselves. The master deceiver, Satan, is a prime example of self-deception; he goes on and on thinking that he may one day have victory when his fate is spelled out clearly in God's Holy Word. 

We sometimes become angry when someone else deceives us but pay little to no attention when we deceive ourselves (James 1:22). This self-deception referred to was merely listening or reading the Word of God and not applying it to our lives. God never intended His Holy Word to be learned so that we might impress others with our vast Bible Knowledge. God's Word is among us to change minds (which is repentance) so that He may change our lives. We can warm a pew every Sunday morning for years and years, read the Bible cover to cover several times, attend Bible Study classes faithfully, but if the Word of God brings no change to our lives, we are deceiving ourselves. 

Solomon tells us that sin will "ensnare" us, and its cords will bind us tightly if we allow ourselves to be taken in by a temptation of Satan, to be self-deceived. The primary culprits of self-deception are pride and arrogance. Through pride, Satan will convince us that we are something when we are not (Galatians 6:3). 

The battle between David and Goliath was a good illustration of self-deception that went wrong. Goliath believed that he would have no trouble crushing this small young shepherd boy because of his great size and strength. Goliath's self-deception came because it was not David that he had to battle that day; it was the God of David (1 Samuel 17:41-51). 

To stay away from any self-deception and fool ourselves into thinking that we can do anything on our own, we only have to follow the Word of God and Make it our pattern for life. (James 1:25).