The worst thing about being lied to is feeling that you weren’t worthy of the truth. – Author Unknown
As parents the most difficult thing to understand is why your child would ever lie to you. We would never purposefully do anything to compromise them and all that God has for them! Yet, somehow, in the make up of each of us is a “gifting” for not trusting others with truth.
When our daughter was 5 years old she and my husband regularly played a game of hide-and-seek with her stuffed monkey. One evening she searched and searched but could not find the animal. Finally, after her daddy gave her multiple clues she ran down the stairs and returned wearing a smile and toting her monkey. However, when asked where she had found her “pet” she chose to “continue the game” and declare a spot different from where he had been hidden. A little of this play was fun, but then she grew more and more insistent that the monkey had been sitting on the sofa, not in the cabinet where Dad had hid him. In fact, she was adamant about it! So much so that my husband began to doubt where he had hid the silly monkey! We gave her numerous opportunities to tell the truth, but she continued to insist that the monkey had been found on the sofa. This seems like an innocent game, and it did begin that way. However, our daughter’s insistence on holding to her own truth created turmoil in our home for 2 days! That’s right…we could not get her to admit this simple truth for over 48 hours!
Finally, on the third evening, I was tucking her in the bed and began (again) to speak to her about truth and how I had seen that she and Daddy weren’t playing as much together; in fact, it seemed to me as if she was avoiding Daddy. Suddenly, she jumped from her bed and ran to her Daddy’s arms. She cried and said that she was so sorry she had lied. Of course, Ken was quick to forgive her. Then, she turned and seemed to float up the stairs to her bed.
I followed her to her room and we talked about how badly she had felt when she knew she had lied to her Daddy. I told her, “Sweetheart, that is called the burden of sin. God did not make us strong enough to carry that heavy burden. Not even grown-ups are strong enough! Only Jesus was strong enough and he took care of it for us!” Then, we talked about how free she felt when she had run to Daddy and told him the truth. Isn’t that just how God wants us always to live!?!
It is truth that frees us each day to live the life we are called to live. Walking in truth with each other, with ourselves, and with our Lord makes our hearts light and free. In John 8:32 Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
May all our children know true freedom. Freedom to walk in truth. Freedom to live in truth. Freedom to represent the ultimate Truth!