Craig T. Owens

The opening words of Psalm 119 describe the end result of going through what I’m calling the P119 Spiritual Workout. In a word: Blessed.

In fact, this word is so exciting that the Hebrew language uses the emphatic thought here. Bringing that into English means that the first two verses of this chapter both begin…

O!! How blessed!!

That’s a wonderful goal, but the next two verses seem to bring us crashing back to earth. In order to enjoy these heights of blessing we are asked to live like this:

• They do nothing wrong as they walk in His ways (v. 3).
• God’s precepts are to be fully obeyed (v. 4).

Yikes! Nothing wrong?! Full obedience?! No mistakes?!

Even Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

But pay attention to this: The sign of a maturing Christian is not one who never sins; the sign of a maturing Christian is one who is closing the gap between sin and repentance.

How does that work? Here’s the progression…

Realization of sin → Repentance of sin → Restoration of God’s blessing

The time gap between our repentance and God’s restoration is faster than the blink of an eye—faster than you can even comprehend. What often takes us a while is moving from realization to repentance. Instead, we explain, and justify, and make excuses, and drag our feet.

But a maturing Christian invites the inspection of the Holy Spirit through the reading of God’s Word and then is quick to realize sin and repent from it. When God restores us, do you know how we appear to Him? PERFECT!!

So realizing our sin, repenting of that sin, and experiencing God’s restoration is the fastest way to live as those who do nothing wrong and who are fully obeying God’s precepts.

Don’t wait any longer: realize and repent, and then experience God’s restoration as you stand perfect in His presence!

If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.