“CRASH” went the glass from the window as it shattered onto the back porch! Keith stared at the broken window.
“I didn’t know I could throw a football that far,” he thought as he ran up to see the mess he had made. “I guess I shouldn’t have thrown it toward the house.” The very first time he had thrown his new football made Keith realize that he was bigger and stronger than the year before. It had been a nice spiral, too, but it went right through the back porch window!
“Daddy and Mother are going to be mad at me when they get home,” he thought to himself. “I’ll probly have to pay for the new window, and I hardly have enough money to buy Mother’s birthday present.”
“Maybe, just maybe I don’t have to tell them I did it. If they ask me I’ll have to tell them, but if they don’t ask me, then maybe it won’t be like lying.”
Suddenly he remembered what his Sunday school teacher had said just the week before. They had been reading in Acts 5 about Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, and what happened to them when they lied.
“Boys,” his teacher had said, “truth is something that we cannot prize too much. There is nothing such as ‘a little white lie’ in God’s sight. Those who are not Christians think nothing of lying about something if it will help them. But the judgment that fell on Ananias and Sapphira shows what God thinks about lying. Yes, boys, a lie is an awful thing and often it is just the beginning of a path of sin. Also, remember that an acted lie is just as bad as a spoken lie. Someday, perhaps one of you may be tempted to hide something by keeping silent. In God’s sight the sin is the same. When Satan tells you to keep quiet, ask God to help you to tell the truth and to confess your sin. He will help you and give you the strength to do what is right and pleasing to Him.”
Just then Keith’s parents drove into the driveway. As Keith ran to the front of the house he silently asked God for help to tell his father just how the accident had happened.
Keith’s father immediately saw that something was bothering him. “What's wrong, Keith?” he asked. “You look like you have something to tell me.”
“Yes, Father, I do,” said Keith, and his voice trembled a little as he spoke. “I’m very sorry, but I broke the back porch window.”
“How did it happen?” asked his father.
“I threw my new football toward the house, and it went lots further than it’s ever gone before! I wasn’t being careful. I’ll pay for the new window.”
“That’s all right, Son,” said his father quietly. “Accidents happen. I’m just glad that you came to tell me right away. I would rather have every window in the house broken than have you try to hide something by lying.”
As they talked more about it, Keith told him how he was tempted not to say anything about the window, and how he had remembered what his Sunday school teacher had said.
“Son,” said his father, “I’m happy to see that you’ve learned a lesson today. It is so easy to be guilty of lying even without opening your mouth. I hope you’ve learned something else, too. Never trust in your own strength. When you’re tempted to do something wrong, ask God for help to do what is right.”
ML-02/01/1981