Staying on the path of purity

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.
Psalm 119:9 (NIV)

The following post was first published on 18th March 2018 under the title ‘Psalm 119 Purity of Life’.                          —————————————

Read: Psalm 119:9-16

Consider: This section of Psalm 119 deals with a common problem which everyone faces as they grow up. The ESV renders verse 9 as: How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. While purity is a problem that all young men face, it isn’t just a problem they alone face. Purity of life is something that young and old, men and women face each day of their lives. We live in a world that is so focussed on gratification and pleasure that being willing to live God’s way is counter-cultural. Purity isn’t talked about much today, but it implies purity at all stages of life and in the face of all the temptations the world can throw at you.

The psalmist hits on the answer to this age-old problem of how to continue to live a pure life when he says the solution is ‘… living according to your word‘. Notice how the psalmist describes this process of living in the following ways:
I seek you with all my heart (v10);
I have hidden your word in my heart (v11);
With my lips I recount all the laws (v13);
I rejoice in following your statutes (v14);
I meditate on your precepts (v15);
I delight in your decrees (v16).

Can you really say that you rejoice in following God’s statutes as one rejoices in great riches? While the world tells us that wealth can only be found in money and possessions, God says it can be found in him. Can you truly say that you delight in God’s decrees? The world tells us that happiness is found in worldly pleasures, but God says that true happiness only exists in knowing him. This is what God wants for each of us. He wants us to rejoice and delight in him, in his Word and in the life he asks us to live.

So take time each day to hide God’s Word in your heart and to meditate on it.

Pray: Father, may your Word become precious to us as we read and meditate on it. Help us to avoid giving in to temptation and keep us on the path of purity.  Amen

Every blessing