Staying pure

Psalm 119 is a wonderful Psalm, it's the longest chapter in the Bible and it's this great Psalm meditating on the greatness of the word of God, and in the second stanza we see this great meditation on how to stay pure.

How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, LORD;
teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word. (Psalm 119:9-16 NIV)
Youth Pastors have for years looked for an answer to the question posed in the ninth verse - how can a young person stay pure? The Psalmist gives an easy answer. By living according to God's word. Simple, job done, let's go.

OK so not quite, what does that life look like? Well thankfully for us that's what the rest of this stanza is all about, it's about how the Psalmist maintains his purity. He prays to God that he will know more of his degrees, he memorizes scripture and he rejoices in God's word. God's word is something to meditate on and it is in doing that that his purity is intact.

It's the same today, it is in the word of God that we see the reason for purity, so it makes sense that a life devoted to the word of God will lead to a life devoted to purity. In encouraging our kids to do all the things they should be doing outside of the purity issue, they will also find that doing those things strengthens their commitment to purity and it is when they fall away from those things that they find themselves struggling with purity.