Just a "little" Disobedience

Knowing that he wasn't suppose to touch the gifts under the Christmas tree, my son still did. He claims that he only touched them, didn't hold them or shake them, and that it wasn't disobedience. I told him he could continue to argue with me, but at the end of the day, God told Eve not to eat the apple. Maybe she only took one bite and didn't gobble the whole thing down or bake an apple pie with it, but it only took a bite to be disobedience!

In today's society, nothing seems to be black and white anymore. Everything seems to be in this gray kind of area. Little white lies and half truths become second nature and are actually encouraged, especially if you want to spare someone's feelings. Telling the truth is no longer the right thing to do and has no longer become a sin or is seen as disobedience. We no longer feel the need to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help us God.

In Proverbs 12:22, the Bible says, "The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy." It doesn't say, the Lord slightly dislikes lying and it is ok to do once in awhile as needed to get us out of a jam. It says He "detests" it. In the dictionary, the word "detest" means to "hate, loathe and abhor". Those are pretty strong words towards something we are slowly being trained to think of as ok, since we are sinners and well, everyone tells lies. I have a hard time finding shows for my kids to watch. These cute, little, cartoon characters seem so innocent until you look closer. They are constantly filled with shady glances, little small lies to their parents and friends, and then covering it up by saying, "just joking" or "I didn't 'mean' that", when you know they did. Don't get me started on the teen shows that my son begs to watch. It is filled with kids going behind their parents back and telling little "white lies" to cover their tracks. We have become so conditioned to think we are just "joking" that we forget we are in fact "lying."

We as parents need to set a good example for our kids. We need to make sure that what we say and do "match". We also need to "catch" ourselves before we begin to say things that are untrue and be sure to "catch" our kids doing the same. It is easy to let things go and figure that we are all human...and we are! But, that is no excuse when we can turn to God for help. Begin to pray for "clean lips" in our life and in our children's lives. Let us "detest, hate, loathe, and abhor" lying. Let us begin to pray that we will always "speak the truth in love".


Ephesians 4:15 "Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church."