June 26th

June 26th

Read: Phil. 4:8; Isa. 5:20-24; Titus 1:15-16; Deut. 6:6-7

Purity of heart and mind is enjoined in Scripture. Sweet purity of heart comes only with the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ and the washing of the water of God’s Word. Purity of mind comes only with heart motivation and help from the Holy Spirit. The sweet innocence of unsullied children, their minds pure from birth, cannot be maintained for very long in this ungodly world and the culture in which we live.

What a child is taught in the home during the first five years of life becomes the foundation upon which all else is built. Loving relationships, the teaching of God’s Word, time out-of-doors in healthy play, and the assurance of being loved, even in proper chastisement, will help a child to maintain innocence and encourage him to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Today, the norm seems to be bickering, quarreling, violence and divorce in the home, the teachings of man encapsulated in all which the godless media pushes at us, hours with TV as the babysitter, and brutality from parents. Is it any wonder that childish innocence is practically nonexistent?

WHERE HAVE THEY GONE?
The innocents of yesterday …
The aproned children at their play,
The buttercups at forest’s verge,
Just stopping short at trees,
The daisies dancing at the urge
Of June’s sweet-blowing breeze …
Sweet fantasies of mind, it seems,
Remembered times of golden dreams
When white clouds floating through the sky
Could capture mind and heart and eye,
And innocents to love were drawn …
Where have the daisies gone?

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to foster innocence as I deal with children.