What Do I Treasure Most - #276

You only treasure what you believe has great value. You protect it. You come back to it frequently. Do you treat God’s Word like something precious or something optional? 

Transcript

You only treasure what you believe has great value. You protect it. You come back to it frequently. Do you treat God’s Word like something precious or something optional? If God is truly who He says He is, then His words carry real weight. They are worth holding onto, thinking about, and living by. They are a precious treasure.

Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast—a weekly Bible study packed with practical truth from God’s Word to help you pursue lasting purity, spiritual integrity, and genuine freedom in Christ. I’m your host Steve Etner – author, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry and this is Episode #276 – join me as we continue our series on Fearing God. This week’s episode asks the question “What Do I Treasure Most?” 

If you’ve been following the last few episodes, then you know that in Proverbs 2:1-5, God shows us six choices that lead to understanding the fear of the Lord and truly knowing Him. In our last two episodes we discussed choice #1 receive God’s Word. 

In this episode we look at choice #2. According to Proverbs 2:1, if we want to begin understanding the fear of the Lord, not only must we daily choose to receive (or read) God’s word, the second choice we must also make is to “treasure up” God’s commandments. 

That word “treasure” means recognizing the value of something and then choosing to hold onto it carefully. To treasure something is not just liking it or agreeing with it. It is seeing it as highly valuable, priceless, something you do not want to lose. You do not treat it casually. You protect it. You think about it. You cherish it. If it were gone, you would feel the loss significantly. It is not just something you have; it is something that matters to you.

Treasuring God’s commandments means more than just knowing they are there or reading them occasionally. It means you soak them up. You make room for them in your life. You do not let them sit on the surface; you let them sink in deep into your heart. You do not simply let Scripture pass in one ear and out the other. You choose to remember it. You choose to keep it close. To cherish it.

That mindset changes how we approach Scripture. If you sincerely treasure God’s Word, you are not just reading it and moving on with your day. You are thinking about what you read. You are coming back to it. You are careful about what competes with it. This reveals your priorities. You only treasure what you believe has great value. You protect it. You come back to it when you need direction. Do you treat God’s Word like something precious or something optional? 

Treasuring God’s Word is one of the clearest ways to show that you take Him seriously. Choose, day after day, to value His voice more than everything else competing for your attention. What you treasure will shape who you become.

We are to hold tightly to God’s Word; all of it. Not just a few favorite verses. Not just the commands that feel comfortable or convenient. But everything He has revealed: His wisdom, His promises, His correction, His instruction. The whole picture.

The world is constantly telling us what to chase after: Success. Money. Recognition. Experiences. Status. But Proverbs is saying, “Instead, fill your heart with God’s Word, because it is the only treasure that lasts.”

God’s Word guides you when you are unsure what to do. It steadies you when your emotions are all over the place. It corrects you when you start drifting. It protects you from decisions that seem right in the moment but lead somewhere you do not want to go. It does not just give you information; it shapes the kind of person you are becoming.

Just like any treasure of great value, Biblical truth must be protected. If you do not intentionally and consistently store God’s Word in your heart, something else will take its place and the loudest voice usually wins.

Treasuring God’s Word means you do not let it sit loosely in your life. You revisit it. You think about it. You bring it into your decisions. You let it shape how you respond in real moments. Here is the reality: whatever you treasure, you protect. If God’s Word is truly a treasure, you will protect time for it. You will protect your focus when you are reading it. And you will protect its influence by measuring everything else against it.

When you start treating God’s Word as something precious—not optional, not secondary—it begins to change you. It strengthens you. It brings clarity. It gives direction. The fear of the Lord begins to grow in a heart that treasures His Word. You do not revere what you ignore; you revere what you value. What you choose to treasure today will become what you stand on tomorrow.

Proverbs 2 does not just tell us to treasure God’s Word and stop there. It actually shows us what comes out of that choice. As you keep reading, you start to see the result: wisdom, understanding, and insight. Those are not just big, abstract, “churchy” words. They are incredibly practical concepts that show up in real life.

Wisdom is knowing what to do in a given moment. Understanding is grasping why it matters. Insight is being able to see what is going on beneath the surface. All of this begins to grow when you choose to treasure God’s Word.

The purpose of accumulating Bible knowledge is not to feel spiritual or sound impressive. When you truly value His Word, it functions like guardrails in your life. It helps you recognize danger before you step into it. It pulls you back from choices that might feel easy now but lead to regret later. It nudges you toward choices that bring life.

Your perspective starts to change. Things that used to confuse you begin to make more sense. You start noticing patterns. You begin to understand motives—both in yourself and in others—more clearly. Instead of reacting emotionally, you begin responding with clarity and intention. That is what discernment looks like, and it grows out of treasuring Scripture.

When you invest time in God’s Word before challenges come, you are preparing for how you will respond when they do. When you take in what God says about integrity, you are training for the moments when compromise feels easier. When you hold onto God’s promises, you are preparing your heart for seasons of fear or uncertainty.

This preparation does not just affect your decisions; it reshapes your character. You become slower to react. Less driven by pride. More patient. Humble. Instead of bouncing around based on your emotions, you start living with greater intention and stability.

As you grow in wisdom and discernment, it begins to impact the people around you. You become someone others can lean on. Your advice carries weight. Your presence brings steadiness. Your responses start reflecting God’s heart more consistently. You are demonstrating the fear of God.

Your spiritual growth allows you to represent God well in everyday life. When you treasure His Word, you are putting yourself in a position to carry His wisdom and goodness into your relationships, your work, your family, everywhere.

Something as simple as reading your Bible and treasuring it throughout the day can begin to reshape how you think, how you make decisions, how you choose to respond, and how you lead. You start to realize that treasuring Scripture has not only made you more informed, but it has also made you more aligned with how God designed you to live.

There is a beautiful connection between treasuring God’s Word and growing in a true fear of the Lord. When you start taking God’s Word seriously—not just reading it and moving on, but holding onto it, thinking about it, letting it shape what is going on inside of you—you begin to see God more clearly. Scripture becomes like a lens that brings His character into focus. You start to understand His holiness more fully. You begin to see His wisdom as perfect, His authority as real, His goodness as steady and trustworthy.

When you start to see God for who He is, your heart responds, not with panic or fear that pushes you away, but with awe. That is what a healthy fear of the Lord looks like. It is not terror. It is reverence. You are drawn toward Him because you recognize how great He is. The posture of your heart says, “You are God, and I want my life to reflect that.”

When you choose to truly treasure His Word, you are honoring Him. You are saying, “What You have said matters. Who You are matters. Your ways carry more weight than mine.” Eventually, the choice to treasure God’s word stops feeling forced. It becomes natural.

As you keep treasuring Scripture, your perspective starts to shift. You begin to value what God values. You start responding differently; less driven by pride, more shaped by humility. You are less controlled by anxiety and more grounded in trust. You are less focused on what is easiest and more focused on what is right.

Proverbs 2:1 is not just telling us to read the Bible; it is inviting us into something deeper. It is inviting us into a relationship where we do not treat God’s Word casually but hold  it closely. We come back to it again and again,  letting it shape how we actually live.

As we do that, our hearts are steadily drawn closer to Him. We become more grounded in His truth, more aware of His presence, and more marked by a reverence that is filled with awe, trust, and genuine love for Him.

OK. Now listen closely as I quote to you Psalm 119:11. “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11 NASB’95).

The psalmist understands something we tend to overlook … sin usually does not show up out of thin air. It tends to creep in quietly. It finds its way in when our hearts are not guarded, when God’s truth is not active in our thinking, when His Word is not fresh in our minds. Sin grows best in that kind of empty space.

To counteract this tendency, the psalmist intentionally treasures God’s Word in his heart. He does not wait until he is in the middle of temptation and then try to figure things out. He prepares ahead of time. He fills his inner life with truth so that when pressure comes, he is not starting from zero.

This verse is not just about avoiding sin—it is about letting God transform you. It is not automatic. It takes intentional effort. It starts with slowing down when you read; not rushing, not multitasking, but actually giving God your full attention.

Then you think about what you have read. You ask questions like, “What does this show me about God?” or “What is this revealing about me?” or “How should this change the way I respond today?”

The psalmist is not doing this to earn God’s approval. He is doing it because he loves God. That changes everything. When you love someone, you care about what they say. You listen. You value their direction. Obedience stops feeling heavy, it becomes something relational.

When that is your posture, something shifts. Reading God’s Word stops feeling like an obligation and starts becoming connection. Scripture stops feeling restrictive and starts being protective, guiding, even life-giving. You do not open your Bible because you have to—you study it because you want to hear from Him. You obey not because you are afraid, but because you care.

And as you keep living that way—holding onto His Word, coming back to it, letting it shape you—you will notice your heart growing stronger. Temptation will not feel as overwhelming. You will think more clearly. Your relationship with God will grow stronger, not because you did everything perfectly, but because you chose to treasure His voice.

It is important that you not miss this next point. I submit that one of the most practical and powerful ways to treasure—or “store up”—God’s Word is simply this: memorize it.

When you memorize Scripture, you are putting God’s truth inside of you in a way that is always available. You are building a kind of internal reserve, truth that is there when you need it most. Temptation does not wait until you are sitting quietly with your Bible open. Doubt does not schedule a convenient time. Fear does not give you a heads-up before it shows up. Those moments hit fast and, when they do, whatever is already inside you is what comes out.

When you commit Biblical truth to memory, you carry it with you. It is there in conversations, in stressful moments, in temptation—right when you need it. Reflection matters. Coming back to the same truth again and again helps it take root. It is not just exposure that changes you, but repeated, thoughtful engagement. This is not meant to be occasional; it is meant to be daily. It is choosing, over and over again, to give God’s voice more weight than everything else competing for your attention.

Every time you make that choice, you are saying, “God, what You say matters more than what I feel, more than what culture says, more than what seems easiest right now.” That is why memorizing Scripture matters. It gives you something solid to stand on in those difficult moments. It strengthens you from the inside out. It equips you to respond with truth instead of just reacting on impulse.

Just think about Jesus in the wilderness (see Matthew 4:1-11). After fasting for forty days, when Jesus is physically drained and emotionally worn down, Satan comes at Him with targeted temptations. How does Jesus respond? Not with logic. Not with emotion. Not with sheer willpower or even His divine authority. He simply says, “It is written.” He does not argue. He does not entertain the idea. He does not try to reason it out. He goes straight to Biblical truth.

If Jesus Himself chose to rely on Scripture in that moment, what does that say for us? He shows us that spiritual strength does not depend on how strong we feel in the moment, but whether God’s truth is already living inside us when the moment comes.

You will not always have your Bible in front of you. But when God’s Word is in your heart, it goes with you everywhere—into conversations, into decisions, into stressful or unexpected situations. It starts shaping how you think in a quiet but powerful way.

Eventually, something encouraging begins to happen. Truth becomes your first response. Instead of reacting purely based on emotion, you begin responding based on what you know is true. Instead of being pulled in every direction by culture or opinion, you are steadied by God’s truth.

I love the words of Psalm 37:31 which says, “The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip” (Psalm 37:31 ESV).

When God’s Word is treasured in your heart, it steadies you. It provides traction when everything around you feels unstable. You may still face hard situations, but you are not constantly losing your footing. Life does not become easy, but you become grounded.

Your steady walk becomes evidence that God’s truth is not just something you have heard; it is something that has taken root inside of you.

Memorizing Scripture is not just some “extra credit” habit for extremely serious Christians. It is one of those quiet disciplines that can deeply shape your inner life.

When temptation shows up, you do not usually have time to go searching for truth. It does not wait patiently while you grab your Bible and look up a verse. It comes quickly, and it comes convincingly. In those moments you do not rise to the occasion; you fall back on whatever is already inside you. That is what you fight with.

Memorization gives you the language of resistance. It places God’s authority in your heart and on your lips. Fearing God means His Word matters enough to prepare ahead of time. You are storing truth now for battles you have not faced yet.

When you respond with Scripture in those moments, you are not just resisting sin, you are aligning yourself with God. You are choosing His voice over every other voice. You are saying, “What God says is what defines reality here, not what I feel, not what I want, not what I am being told.”

Memorizing Scripture is not only for those moments when you are being pulled toward sin. It is for the whole weight of life, because temptation is not the only thing that challenges your faith. Sometimes you face ongoing stress that just does not let up. Sometimes you worry about what is coming next. Sometimes you experience loneliness that settles in quietly. Sometimes doubt creeps in when it feels like your prayers are not being answered. Sometimes you suffer through grief, or disappointment, or just a sense of uncertainty that lingers longer than you thought it would.

In those moments, what fills your mind matters more than we often realize. If your mind is not filled with God’s truth, it will not stay empty. It will fill up with something else: Fear. Doubt. Worst-case scenarios. Our thoughts tend to drift toward whatever is most available in the moment.

That is why memorizing Scripture is such a gift. When God’s Word is treasured inside you, you carry a secure source of truth, comfort, and hope wherever you go. You are not scrambling to find something to hold onto when confusion or anxiety hits; you already have it with you.

In those harder moments, you may not have the focus or clarity to go searching for the “right” passage. But when His Word is already in your heart, it is right there, ready when you need it. It becomes like a well you can draw from at any time.

Memorizing Scripture puts you in a position to strengthen other people, too. With God’s Word stored in your heart, you carry truth with you wherever you go. When someone around you is hurting, confused, discouraged, or just trying to figure things out, you are not scrambling for something helpful to say. You are not falling back on clichés. You actually have something real to offer; something solid, something hopeful, something true that meets them right where they are.

Storing Scripture in your heart allows you to become someone God can use in other people’s lives. You are ready to speak life, offer hope, and gently point people back to Him.

That is what 1 Peter 3:15 means when it says to “always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you.” That kind of readiness does not just happen. You do not wake up one day suddenly prepared. It comes from gradually filling your heart and mind with God’s words. Sharing Scripture from memory shows that it is not just something you have read, it is something you have lived with. It has been working in you, and it just flows out of you. That kind of authenticity carries weight.

In that sense, memorizing Scripture is like building a spiritual toolbox. The more truth you have stored, the more equipped you are—not just for your own life, but for the moments where you can help someone else. The comfort God gave you becomes something you pass on. The clarity you have gained becomes something you share. The hope that carried you starts carrying someone else.

Responding to life with Scripture doesn’t begin in the moment—it begins long before it. It grows out of a heart shaped by God’s Word. That’s why, to understand what it means to fear God, we must choose not only to read His Word daily, but to faithfully treasure it.

Alright, we’re going to hit the pause button here until next week’s episode where we will continue our study of what it means to fear God.

As we wrap up this week’s episode, I'd love to hear from you. How has the Point of Purity Podcast been impacting your walk with Christ? What has God been teaching you? Has He challenged you, encouraged you, convicted you, or helped you see Him in a fresh way?

Sometimes it's easy to listen to a podcast and move on with the rest of our day. But my prayer is that these studies don't simply fill our minds with information—they draw us into a deeper love for God, a greater reverence for who He is, and a more wholehearted obedience to His Word.

If these podcasts have been meaningful to you, would you take just a moment and send me an email? I'd be honored to hear your story, pray for you, and rejoice in what God is doing in your life. You can reach me at steve@thepuritycoach.com.

Thank you for allowing me to be part of your spiritual journey. Your emails are a tremendous encouragement to me to continue this ministry, and they remind me that God's Word is continuing to accomplish exactly what He intends. I'd love to hear from you.

In the meantime, if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes! So, until next time this is Steve Etner – author, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry – reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.