Sin Follows

I was reading through some of William Cowper's Olney Hymns when I came across one that reminded me of the deceitfulness of sin as well as sin's ability to follow us into the most noble and sacred of our activities. Before I share the hymn, consider this statement from Proverbs 4:23

Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

What a call and duty of the Christian, to watch, or guard our hearts from all that would rob of life, of joy and of peace. The great and cruel enemy of the heart is sin, which, as I noted above, is always present and always seeking and opportunity to bring us to ruin. In our most precious of prayers, sin is there. In our highest worship, sin is there. In our most sincere labors and efforts in the Lord, sin is there. This is why we are called to "watch over" our hearts with "all diligence."

Let us pray that we may "lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us" (Hebrews 12:1).

Consider then the hymn of William Cowper entitled "Jehovah Our Righteousness"

My God, how perfect are Thy ways!
But mine polluted are:
Sin twines itself about my praise,
And slides into my pray'r.

When I would speak what Thou hast done
To save me from my sin,
I cannot make Thy mercies known
But self-applause creeps in.

Divine desire, that holy flame
Thy grace creates in me:
Alas! Impatience is its name,
When it returns to Thee.

This heart a fountain of vile thoughts,
How does it overflow?
While self upon the surface floats
Still bubbling from below.

Let others in the gaudy dress
Of fancied merit shine;
The LORD shall be my righteousness;
The LORD for ever mine.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Ed