5) Five Doors of the Heart
Jennie Bishop is a good friend of OneByOne. Her ministry, PurityWorks, promotes a lifestyle of purity of heart for all children, leading to a new generation of men and women that value virtue, honor and service.
Jennie writes, "We've got to face the facts. We're waiting too long to deal with our kids' sexuality, and our silence is being filled by the voices of others who are only too willing to guide our children into sexual activity of all kinds."
Does this mean that we have to spew the facts of life at age 6? No! But it does mean that our kids are being bombarded with sexual messages from their earliest years, and we should be intentional. Modern culture and media give us plenty of opportunities to answer simple questions and start an age-appropriate conversation. (Example: "Should that lady let someone take her picture with her underwear on? Nope!")
Even more than sexual issues, it's vital that we train the hearts of our child. Before they ever show an interest in the opposite sex, they need to be in the process of becoming people with good hearts. Someone who knows the importance of serving, caring, honor and respect is less likely to err later on when it comes to sexual behavior.
So how do we help shape the heart of a young child? By using the Five Doors of the
Heart.
At a young age, if you are a parent or Sunday School teacher introduce your child to the five senses and talk about what it means to use those senses as doors to the heart. The doors can be opened to let good things in and closed to keep bad things out.
For example, the door of the eyes: We use sunglasses to shield our eyes from the sun, but to protect our hearts, we are careful about what we look at.
What's exciting about this approach is that you can use it as a child grows. Guarding the door of the eyes means that a young man turns his head away when he sees an immodest woman, or a young girl learns not to tease boys with her eyes. Guarding the ears means choosing what song lyrics to listen to with care, etc.
Discussions about the Five Doors lead eventually to discussions about sexuality. And that's the point. Heart attitudes prepare the way for the practice of sexual purity later on. Not that the Five Doors are a magic bullet. The hard work comes as we intentionally engage with our children, being constantly available for conversation and questions from the earliest years on.
Don't be one of the parents or Sunday School teachers who says, "We can get to that later." Children need us now, even if you're are a parent still planning their birth. As you understand purity you can plan a strategy for preparing a child early to live a life of honor, sexual integrity and wholeness.
Planned Purity is a complete purity training method (including the Five Doors) for families, focused on starting with the heart, working into the life and actions, and pursuing purity for a lifetime. If you're looking for a plan for your family, this may be the book for you. Not only a good read and terribly practical, the back third of the book is loaded with object lessons, scripts, family contracts and other resources.
Planned Purity and the best-selling children's books The Princess and the Kiss and
The Squire and the Scroll (Planned Purity children's resources) are available
at: http://www.SundaySchoolNetwork.com/bookstore.html.
