2 Chronicles 34:3
"For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images."
Josiah was one of the youngest kings to rule Israel. In the verse above, he was only sixteen years of age when he began to make major changes in the country. These changes that he made were nothing more than establishing early patterns by which he would rule the kingdom and live his life.
It is highly important for youth to establish early patterns in their life. Your early patterns will dictate to you and everyone else what type of person you are going to be. Whether or not you are doing it purposely, you are establishing patterns. If you don't purposely establish patterns, then you can be assured that you are establishing wrong patterns. The right patterns in life must be established on purposed. There were three patterns that Josiah established early that would be wise for every youth to establish in their own life.
First, he established a pattern of walking with God. The verse above says, "...while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father..." This action was important to every other pattern because this pattern formed his character. Every youth needs to purposely establish a pattern of walking with God. If you will make it a daily habit in your life, then you will find that God's mind will help you establish other good patterns. Every day you need to have a time when you seek God through the Scriptures and prayer. This time cannot be optional; it must be a time that you let nothing hinder. If you can establish the pattern of walking with God early in your life, then this will be something that will benefit you the rest of your life.
Second, he established a pattern of standing for right. He purged the land from those things that would keep them from serving God. A young person needs to learn early to take a stand for doing right. One of the reasons many struggle with peer pressure is because they never established the pattern of standing for right during their youth. If you don't learn to stand up for right as a youth, you will find that you will struggle to stand for right when you're an adult. Make it clear to everyone when you are a youth that you are going to do right and take a stand even when they won't do right.
Third, he established a pattern of quickly dealing with sin. He didn't entertain the false gods and their altars, but he quickly destroyed them. Every youth needs to learn not to allow sin to continue in their life. Giving place to sin will only allow it to hurt you later in life. When you discover sin in your life quickly deal with it. Make it your pattern not to allow sin to continue in your life.
What is the key to all these three patterns? The key is found in verse 27 when God said, "Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God..." The key was his heart. He had a tender heart that wanted to please God. If you will keep your heart tender towards God and make it your sole desire to please Him, then you will find that establishing good patterns early in life will not be difficult. I encourage you to give your heart to God while you're young so these good patterns can be established.