Second, children need to know why they should refuse the evil and choose the good. Parents need to teach, and more important, to demonstrate that “refusing and choosing” is the best way to live because it is the way that maintains fellowship with God. To live in fellowship with Christ our Savior is to experience and enjoy His presence, grace, and goodness. Choices have consequences; and if we desire God’s blessings, we must choose as He would have us choose.
Third, children need to understand the necessity of doing both—refusing the evil and choosing the good. Overemphasize the refusing, and children may equate Christianity with only what they must refuse. Overemphasize the choosing, and children may think they need not refuse themselves anything. They need to see lived out before them the necessity of refusing the evil, the joys in choosing the good, and the truth that we refuse the evil because the good is infinitely better.