“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word.”
This is the question all parents are faced with, isn’t it? The writer of Psalm 119 had to be a parent or at least someone who understands the rebellious mind of a young person.
How do we keep our children pure? How do we keep them away from all of the filth this world pedals at them?
When your daughter comes to you and asks why she can’t watch a certain show that “everyone else” is watching, or when your son doesn’t understand why he is in trouble for saying a word he overheard from a kid at the Chick-Fil-A playground. The answer we give is something like, “because I said so” or if I have more patience and time I may quote some Bible verses.
I want my kids to be pure; to hate sin and to flee from it. All Christian parents do. The Psalmist in 119 makes it clear; we guard our children’s purity, as well as our own, by guarding it according to God’s word. Which is why we have family devotions, memory verses, etc. It is why we take our children to church, send them to Bible study, let them hear and sing worship songs. We want them to hear the word and be doers of the word as James 1:22 tells us.
These are normal thoughts and practices of most if not all Christian parents.
My conviction is this: how do I raise my children to not only grab ahold of Psalm 119:9 but to also be children who can say with Psalm 119:97,
“Oh how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.”
I pray my children will not only be hearers and obeyers of God’s word, but that they will love what they are told to obey. That they meditate on it all day. That they will experience the peace that comes to those who love God’s law that Psalm 119:165 talks about.
I want my children to obey God and love obeying Him. I want them to abhor what God hates and use the word of God as a lamp to their feet all the days of their lives.
Practical Thoughts and Application
- 1) Do your children know you love God’s law and His word? How do they know? How can you show or tell them more of your love for God’s law?
- 2) Does God’s word govern your household? How?
- 3) Pray that God would give you a love for holiness and love for His word.
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