Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Breaking the Rules (08/16/04)
TITLE: Breaking the Rules with Chocolate Covered Lies By Jan Warrick 08/22/04 |
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“Sweetheart, have you been eating cookies?” I asked her.
“No mommy, I haven’t eaten any cookies”, she said confidently.
Dusting the crumbs off her clothes, I picked her up and held her in front of a mirror. “Honey are you sure you haven’t eaten any cookies?”
Looking at her own chocolate covered face in the reflection, she replied, “No mommy, I haven’t eaten any cookies.”
The scene was comical and it was difficult not to laugh. How could she possibly deny her guilt with the evidence smeared all over her? Yet in her little mind, if she proclaimed her innocence, I would believe her no matter how strong the evidence against her.
Sometimes it is difficult to be a parent, especially when our children’s actions strike our funny bone. The temptation is to ignore the little white lies, or in this case the chocolate covered ones. But allowing her to get away with her lies would have only reinforced her belief that lying was acceptable. She needed to be disciplined.
This type of behavior training starts at home. God has given that responsibility to parents. Not to schools and teachers, but to parents. He instructs us parents to train up our children in the way they should go. Why? Because, He is thinking of eternity. If we allow our children to get away with unacceptable behavior at home, their behavior will be the same in school. Later, when they are adults, their behavior will continue, and ultimately God will hold them accountable for their actions.
When we allow our children to get away with breaking the rules, we are watering down the principles that God Himself has set before us. Remember Ananias and Saphira in Acts chapter five? After selling all they owned they kept a portion of money for themselves, which was their right. The rest they donated to the church, telling Peter it was the entire amount. This is where they made their mistake. They should have been honest, that what they were donating was only a portion of the monies they had received. God revealed to Peter they were lying and Peter confronted them. Their punishment for this lie? Death.
Why so harsh a punishment? Verse four states that they did not lie to men, but lied to God. Our Holy God cannot tolerate sin, any sin. Ananias and Saphira sinned before God and their punishment was physical death. But we must keep in mind that there is also spiritual death, and none of us want our children to suffer that fate.
We must teach our children that even if their wrong doings are not apparent to us, before God, their sins can’t be hidden, just like the story of Ananias and Saphira. So the next time your children tell you chocolate covered lies, stifle your grin and with love teach them what God says about breaking the rules.