How can a young man keep his way pure?    By guarding it according to your word. 

Psalm 119:9

As we sat watching a family-friendly movie on what had been labeled a “family-friendly” channel, I was shocked by the commercial that popped up and accosted the eyes of myself and my young boys. I must have looked like a crazy woman as I simultaneously tried to change the channel, tell the boys to look away, and leap to cover their eyes in case they didn’t do it themselves. The sexuality and violence in the commercial was definitely not family-friendly and I was not a happy mama. This commercial was a direct attack on their purity in all its forms.

My boys are still small and the honest truth is I don’t even want to talk about purity. It scares me. The topic makes me feel inadequate, not because I have a checkered past, but because purity is SO big and SO important. How in the world can I possibly keep them pure in this world?

The answer: I can’t.

Purity — 21 Days of Prayer for Sons Challenge via The MOB Society

The Truth

I’m an encourager and I want to tell you right now, “Hey Mom, you’re doing a great job keep your kiddos pure and you have nothing to worry about!” But that would be a lie.

Many parents see sheltering their children as the most effective and practical solution for preserving purity. But even when my boys have been under my watchful eye, we’ve encountered things of this world that could cloud their minds. Billboards we drive by, magazines in the grocery store checkout aisle, words and and images and skin I wish they could un-see.

The Most Powerful Thing

The best solution for protecting the purity of my children is the most powerful thing we can do in this world: prayer.

These prayers aren’t just for the future choices my sons will make about sex. My prayers for purity are about their minds right now. They are prayers for protection and self-control and the wisdom to call on God for help when temptations arise or dark thoughts enter their minds. We talk a lot about purity when puberty hits, but our job is to turn their purity over to God by prayer beginning when they are very small.

My boys have become so good about telling each other to turn away when an inappropriate scene shows up on TV. Even my two-year-old will say, “This not my show!” when something comes on that he doesn’t think he should watch! I keep the lines of communication open so they can talk about when they have heard or seen something that bothers them. I don’t want them wrestling with impure thoughts on their own. I do what I can, but none of that matters if I’m not asking God to protect their purity, in all its forms, on a regular basis. Only He has the power to overcome the darkness that threatens the purity of our sons.

If you do have a teen and you are looking for resources to use to start a purity discussion, we would love to recommend the True Love Project!

40DaysofPurityforGuys_FNL_CVR

Formerly known as True Love Waits, the True Love Project and the accompanying devotional, 40 Days of Purity for Guys, have this focus…

We live in a culture that shoves sex, porn, and lust in our faces constantly,  and purity can seem impossible and even irrational. But it’s not. We have a powerful God fighting on our side, and His definition of sex and purity is so much more fulfilling that the world’s. 
 
Young men need guidance. They need to be taught how to check their egos, how to walk away from the wrong girls, how to starve and outsmart sexual temptation, and how to ask more important questions than “How far is too far?”
 
Maybe more importantly, they need to learn how to not give up just because they mess up. And most importantly, they need to learn to let the Gospel define the kind of men they want to be.
 
The world tells us all that sex is everything and that it comes with no boundaries. But God wants to help us fight for something greater. He continues to call us to purity, and these devotions offer a battle plan to step closer to purity each day.
We are especially loving the devotional because it challenges teen boys to spend 40 days in the Word discovering more about God’s plan for their lives, their hearts, and their purity. Although my boys aren’t old enough to go through this on their own yet, I am thankful to have it on my shelf now to give me perspective and to pull out when the time is right. Moms of pre-teen and teen boys – check this out to share with your boys now!

We have TEN SETS of the True Love Project + 40 Days of Purity for Guys to giveaway this weekend! Just leave a comment discussing this chapter by Sunday, October 12th at 10PM EST to be entered!

 

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

1. Sometimes parents find it hard to talk to their children about sex because of their own impure pasts. If this describes you, take a minute to ask God to heal what He died to save. It’s so much easier to talk about the hard things with our children when we’re doing it from a place of health.

2. What are the implications of the fact that we’re not able to keep pure lives without God’s help?

Throughout the day, pray the ten scripture prayers found at the end of the Purity chapter in Praying for Boys!

Erin-Mohring-300x300Lover of Jesus, family, home. Wife, mommy, writer, runner.

Erin finds joy in her life as a Jesus-follower, doctor’s wife, mama to three handsome guys, writer at Home with the Boys, and co-founder of The MOB Society. She has a passion for healthy living, fashion, and encouraging families to form strong bonds based on faith!

Just joining us? Simply subscribe to the MOB Society blog now. That way, the 21 Days of Prayer for Sons posts will come straight to your inbox all month long!

 

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