I caught my daughter lying to me last week.
This is the first time I have known that she lied directly to me without hesitation. It even took me a little coaxing to have her admit the truth. Not only did I catch this one lie, but in the excavation of details I found out she had been lying to me repeatedly for weeks about the same topic.
I have to admit I was extremely troubled over this. I kept thinking where am I going wrong? I’m teaching her honesty, integrity, and moral values. I am teaching her to be kind, to seek Christ, to love others.
Where am I going wrong?
I wasn’t prepared for this, I sought counsel in friends, how do I approach this, how do I teach her this is not who I hope she would be?
Taking a little of all the advice I talked to her about God and how He loves us, how He wants us to be caring honest people. How lies are a form of sin and how one lie can lead to another and another and snowball into a disastrous situation later in life. I told her that now, in her childhood, how she behaves, her actions, and her choices are shaping her for her future. She received a consequence for her lies and then we moved on.
This morning as I was driving her to school I watched her in the rearview when we stopped at a light. She was singing a worship song along with the radio. Her eyes were closed, her chin pointed toward the sky and she was PRAISING Christ! It was evident she was FEELING the words she was singing to God, it was so clear she was worshiping Him with her heart.
So clearly in this moment I felt God say to me, children are sinners too and she will fail, but that doesn’t mean she will fall from my grace.
WHOA.
I need to remember I can do my best to pour all the goodness and love into my children but they are and will always be sinners. Their hearts may seek Christ, their lips may praise Him, and their eyes may study His word, but just like me they are sinners and they will make mistakes and they will need grace.
It will not be because we necessarily failed them in how we raise them, it will not be because they don’t love Jesus, it will just be because people fail, we are all failures, but we will never fall out of His grace because of it.
Originally published Feb 21, 2020
