OK, now I must be officially off the deep end. Thank God for little lies?!?! Maybe my title is a little off (and in fact, I'll probably suggest another one before I finish rambling), but be patient and bear me out.
So, one of my kids was told to do something the other day. He gave the appearance of having done it, but evidence quickly exposed that he didn't no it and had lied about it. So, my wife, being the graceful parent she is, gave him the opportunity to rectify his mistake. He again gave the appearance of having done what he was asked and at that point no evidence was found to the contrary. At least until a few minutes later and we got home. He lied again. Now at least it wasn't one of those big life-threatening lies, but it was a lie. As dutiful loving Dad, it fell to me to administer appropriate punishment. So, we talked. We talked about lies, we talked about sin, we talked about how we'd been reading about the consequences of sin in our family devotions time, and I punished him. As we talked, I found myself thinking "Come on son, don't you see that you're becoming a habitual liar and I am increasingly finding it hard to trust you? Don't you see that it breaks my heart to see you do so? Haven't we been teaching you to tell right from wrong?" and so on and so forth.
After we put the kids to bed and I began to reflect on the events of the evening, I was reminded that God has every reason to think the same thing of me and yet in his overwhelming love and grace, He sent His Son to redeem me and bring me in right relationship with Him. So, maybe it's not the little lies that I'm thankful for. Maybe I should have titled this post "Thank God how our children's sin reminds us of God's love for us."
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:8-9
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