Those Little White Lies - Devotional for Children

“Don’t tell lies to each other;” Colossians 4: verse 9 [The Living Bible]

There is no such thing as a little white lie. There is no such thing as a little sin. Either it is sin, or it isn’t. Either it is a lie, or it isn’t.

Cheating is a lie. When you copy someone else’s work and let your teacher think it is your work that is cheating. You are deceiving your teacher.

I admit there were times I wanted to cheat in school. The idea started with social studies. I’m terrible at learning and remembering facts; like historical events and geography. I always liked English and math because I could learn the rules and figure out the answer.

The answer to cheating is hard work. Study; ask for help from a mentor if you have a hard time understanding your school work. Make notes. Review them from time to time and especially before an exam.

Make a game of learning. Work with a friend or sibling. Have them quiz you. If you get the answer wrong, look it up. That will help you remember it better.

In the Bible there is a story about two brothers, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the older one. They were twins but they were very different. Esau was hairy while Jacob had smooth skin. Esau was a hunter and Jacob was a quiet man who liked to stay indoors. He became a good cook.

When their father, Isaac, was very old and knew he would die soon he called Esau to his bedside. He asked Esau to go hunt game and prepare it for him. Then Isaac would eat it and give Esau his very special blessing. With this blessing Esau would become the heir to the everlasting covenant between Abraham’s descendents and the Lord Jesus.

Now Isaac was blind. So while Esau went out to hunt food, his mother, Rebekah, helped Jacob deceive his father. Rebekah told Jacob to bring him two young goats and she would cook them for Jacob. She knew how to make them taste like wild meat. She also put the skins of the young goats on Jacob’s hands and neck. Then Jacob went into his father’s room pretending he was Esau.

Isaac was very suspicious and asked Jacob to come close to him so he could feel his hands. So Isaac thought it was Esau because his hands were hairy. He was still suspicious though and said he sounded like Jacob but he felt like Esau.

Then Isaac asked him, if he was Esau. Jacob lied. He said he was.

Isaac gave Jacob the special blessing for the oldest son. And then he ate his food. After he was done and Jacob left him alone, Esau arrived with his wild meat wanting his father to bless him.

So Isaac discovered that Jacob had lied to him but he couldn’t undo the blessing. It now belonged to Jacob.

Jacob paid dearly for his lie. Esau was so angry with him that Jacob had to leave home and flee from his brother. He was afraid that Esau might kill him. He never saw his mother again. You can read about Esau and Jacob in Genesis chapters 25, 26 and 27.

We also pay dearly when we lie; maybe not right away. We might think we got away with it. But somewhere, sometime later in life it comes to cause a problem in our life. The Bible says our sin (our lie) will find us out. When we lie we hurt ourselves

Going deeper for adults:
It seems to me that the lies we tell as adults have even deeper repercussions in our lives than the lies our children tell. As parents we have experienced how our mistakes can also negatively affect our families.
Fortunately God doesn’t leave us to our own devices. He says if we have wronged our brother we need to go to him and ask him to forgive us. We get a clean slate with our brother and with God.

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