Little White Lies

Ephesians 4:25 – “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.”

Aside from anger, one of the first sins we detect in a child is the tendency to stretch the truth. Before he thinks of stealing or using profanity, he covers up unpleasant things with flimsy excuses or “white lies.”

“I told a fib today, Daddy,” confessed a young New York schoolboy.” “The teacher asked me where I was born, and it seemed too sissy to say The Women’s Hospital; so, I said Yankee Stadium!” We may smile at this, yet the youngster had taken a step in the wrong direction by not speaking the truth.

The story is told of a peevish old fellow who boarded a train, occupied the best seat, and then tried to reserve still another for himself by placing his luggage upon it. Just before the crowded train started, a teenage boy came running up and jumped aboard. “This car is full,” said the old man irritably; “that seat next to me is reserved for a friend of mine who has put his bag there.” The youth paid no attention but sat down saying, “All right, I’ll sit here until he comes.” He placed his suitcase upon his knees while the elderly man glared at him in vain.

Of course, the “friend” didn’t show up and soon the train began to move. As it glided past the platform, the young man tossed the bag through the open window remarking, “Apparently your friend has missed the train. We mustn’t let him lose his luggage too!”
With a horrified expression on his face the old gentleman began to fume and sputter. The lie had cost him his possessions!

How much better to be able to testify with Paul, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not”
(Romans 9:1)