A little girl was watching her mother wash dishes when she notices a few strands of white hair mixed in with her mother’s otherwise dark hair.
The little girl asks, “Mommy, why are some of your hairs white?”
The mother, seeing an opportunity to influence her daughter’s behavior with the use of just a little bit of guilt, says, “Every time you’re disobedient, another hair on my head turns white.”
The daughter looks up with her big, brown eyes and asks, “Mommy, why are ALL of grandma’s hairs white?”
That cute little daughter got her mom into a bit of a jam there, didn’t she?!
Or, actually, the mother did so herself—she’s the one who decided to use deceit in order to get her daughter to be more obedient. She got herself into a bit of a trap there, when she neglected to heed the words of Jesus in John 8:32, where we read that it’s the truth that makes us free.
And, as the mother learned here, we really hurt ourselves, too, when we lie to others. Eph. 4:25 reminds us, “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”
I hope our little story brought a smile to your face, and I also hope when we’re tempted to maybe compromise the truth—maybe twist the facts just a little—even for a seemingly worthy cause, like making a little girl just a little more obedient—that we remember the words of Jesus, and choose the freedom that comes from choosing truth.
