PSALM 19:13 – Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!

THEME OF THE DAY. HOW TO BE IN BONDAGE TO SIN. There are three responses to the theme of today’s nugget. First, we may say, “What? Who would want to learn to be in bondage to sin? I want freedom from sin.” I hope that is the chief response we offer for it is the God-honoring one. Another response might be, “No Christian could ever be in bondage to sin. God has freed me from sin in my life.” This, too, is a good response, but it lacks understanding of the power of remaining sin in the believer. The Apostle Paul wrote . . . For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace (Romans 6:14). That means sin cannot rule over the Christian. But sin can be an area of struggle that leads to some form of bondage to sin. We might call the area of sinful bondage a “besetting sin” that hounds us, and too often wins out in our lives. A third response to the theme of the day is curiosity that comes from seeing the illogical nature of the theme – a Christian learning how to be in bondage to sin. I hear myself, and maybe you as well, saying, “It makes no sense to tell a Christian how to be in bondage to sin.” Well, before we go there, give me a little space to convince us we need to see how we do experience bondage of sin, not to pursue this condition, but to avoid it.

Now when it comes to being in bondage to sin, there are many ways. From worldliness to spiritual neglect to compromising known truth, the ways to put oneself under the heavy and painful yoke of sin are not difficult to discern. And they are not difficult to do. We may wake up one morning and be spiritually awakened to the reality we have been or are in bondage to some sin or sins. One of the chief causes is found in today’s scripture. It is the very thing David pleads with the Lord to keep him from – committing presumptuous sins. And it is a prayer we should daily offer to the Lord as well. Why? David knew his treacherous heart and its prone to wander nature. So must we or the bondage of presumptuous sins will be upon us.

So, what are these presumptuous sins? We each must determine the “what” in our own lives, but first a definition is needed. In this text, the word “presumptuous” means “to be overconfident, arrogant in behavior of which one does not have the right, to be inflated with oneself.” I think once we get the definition understood, we will see the ease of which presumptuous sins may occur in our lives. Ever thought more of yourself than you should by looking down at others? Presumptuous sin. Ever be arrogant, defensive in a tense conversation when disagreements occur? Presumptuous sin. Ever play with temptation because sin is enjoyable? Presumptuous sin. Ever not fight against a “loved sin” in your heart because you know God always forgives you when dealing with sin? Presumptuous sin. Basically, it is to allow or do anything in our hearts and lives that we know is wrong in the eyes of the Lord.

Presuming upon God’s grace is serious, and like David, we should constantly seek His protecting and enabling grace to avoid them at all cost. If we don’t, bondage to sin will occur and the misery of such bondage become entrenched in our spiritual lives.

PRAYER: “Lord, protect me from the evil of committing sin and doing so of my own free will.”

QUOTE: “Christians have surrendered their lives to Christ and that means His mastery rules, not sin.”