“Amy, I’m going to take some of these blueberry muffins next door and give them to Mrs. Peters while they’re still hot. I’ll only be gone a few minutes.”
Amy was playing with her doll and would rather go on playing than stop to go see Mrs. Peters. She was an old lady who lived next door and was nearly blind.
After her mother left, Amy put her doll in the stroller and pushed her all around the house, pretending she was on a shopping trip. She decided to stop at the grocery store ... her parents’ bedroom. Looking around at all the “groceries,” Amy saw her mother’s wristwatch on the dresser. She must have forgotten to put it on because she wears it every day, Amy thought.
Amy had been told not to touch anything on her mother’s dresser. She had accidently broken a special little bottle one time when she had picked it up to look at it. But all Amy was thinking about now was how much she wanted a gold wristwatch just like her mother’s. She decided to try it on ... just to see how it would look on her wrist.
Nearly dropping it several times, she finally got it on. “Oh, it looks so pretty,” she said. “I wish it was my very own. ... I wonder how it winds up?” (Back then, watches had to be wound to keep on working, because they didn’t have batteries.) She found the little gold wheel on the side of the watch and began to turn it as she had seen her mother do. She turned and turned the little gold wheel, until it seemed to be stuck. No matter how hard she tried, it wouldn’t turn anymore.
Just then she heard her mother unlocking the back door. Quickly, Amy took the watch off and set it back where she had found it. Then she pushed her doll stroller out into the hall so her mother wouldn’t know she had been in her bedroom.
Amy knew what she had done was wrong, but she thought her mother would never find out, especially if she didn’t even know Amy had been in her bedroom. But Amy must have forgotten that the Lord Jesus loved her so much that He wouldn’t let her get away with her sin. That would only make her think she could get away with more sins. One sin often leads to another, then another, and still another, as we shall see.
“Amy, I’m home,” called her mother.
Amy pushed her stroller into the kitchen where her mother was.
Looking at the clock, her mother said, “Oh my, I hope you weren’t worried, because I was gone a little longer than I expected. I forgot to put my watch on this morning and didn’t realize how long I had been talking to Mrs. Peters.”
Amy’s mother went right to her bedroom to get her watch. As she put it on, she noticed it wasn’t running. That was unusual. She started to wind it so it would start again. Then she discovered that her watch had already been wound. In fact, it had been wound so tightly that it had stopped working.
Amy’s mother knew she hadn’t wound the watch too tightly. There was only one other person at home who could have done it.
“Amy, did you take my watch off the dresser?”
Amy didn’t want to look at her mother, so she turned her back, pushing the stroller away, and quickly said, “No.”
“When I just now put it on, I discovered it had stopped,” her mother said. “And when I tried to wind it, I found it’s wound too tightly. Amy, are you sure you didn’t touch it while I was taking the muffins to Mrs. Peters?”
Amy kept fixing her doll in the stroller, never looking at her mother, and answered, “Yes, I’m sure.”
“Amy,” her mother continued, “I’m very sorry, but I don’t think you’re telling me the truth. Maybe you had better go to your room to think it over.”
A little later her mother went into Amy’s room and found a very unhappy little girl. When she asked her if she had thought over what she had told her, Amy burst into tears. Then the whole story of the watch came out.
Her mother reminded her of the verse in the Bible that says, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:2323But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23)). Then she explained that it is always best to tell the truth right away. “If you tell one lie, often you tell another one to cover up the first one, and then the problem grows bigger and bigger, and you become very unhappy. Lying is sin. Telling the truth not only keeps you happy, but it is doing the right thing and it pleases the Lord Jesus.”
Amy had to be punished for what she had done, but by suppertime she could join the family at the dinner table as a happy little girl.
Lying is something we may all have done to try to cover up something wrong we have done, or for some other reason. But there is a very serious verse in the Bible about liars. Along with a list of other sins, it says “all liars shall have their part in the lake which [burns] with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)). This shows us that lying is not a “little” sin, just as no sin is little. This is because every single sin has to be paid for, either by the person who did it or by the precious Savior, the Lord Jesus. He wants to be your Savior, too, no matter how many lies you have told. He can save you from going to the lake of fire, because He died on Calvary’s cross to pay for the sins of all who believe on Him. I hope you have trusted in Him as your own Savior!
If you are a Christian who still tells lies, it is good to think about this verse. Lying does not belong in a Christian’s life. The Bible tells us that Satan is the father of lies, and Jesus is “the truth.”
Messages of God’s Love 9/8/2024