Step 2: Give the Truth of Your Heart to God

One Christmas season, Johnny and his sister Sally visited their grandparents on their farm. Discovering a slingshot, Johnny happily tried to shoot down a few mangoes. His aim was terrible, however, and after spending an hour hitting everything on the tree but mangoes, he decided to head back to the house. On the way he spied his grandmother's pet duck and impulsively let loose with the slingshot, believing he would miss it as he had missed everything that morning. To his astonishment, he hit the duck right on its head. To his horror, the duck dropped dead.

When he recovered from his shock, he decided the best thing to do was to cover up the evidence of the crime and pretend nothing had happened. Quickly, he dug a shallow grave and after giving the ill fated duck a hasty burial he returned to the house believing it to be the end of this sad story. If he had read King David's story in 2 Samuel 11-12, he may have learned that cover ups don't end any stories; they just result in horrible repurcussions!

After dinner, Johnny's grandmother turned to his sister and told her to help out with the dishes. But his sister said, ""Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen." As the boy opened his mouth to protest, Sally turned to him and said in a savage whisper, "I know about the duck!" She didn't have to say more. Johnny did the dishes.

That began the most horrible time Johnny had in his entire life. He ended up milking the cows, taking out the trash, sweeping the cobwebs out of the attic, washing the windows and doing other assorted chores, while his sister frolicked her way through the holidays. Finally Johnny could stand it no longer, and he decided to end his agony by confessing his deed to his grandmother.

He was in for another shock. When he went to apologize to his grandmother, she told him that she knew what had happened. "I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."

I don't know who the author of this story is, but he has been brilliant in illustrating an important scriptural truth—although it is probable this may not have been his intention. The truth is this: God knows everything we do, and when we lie to him about the sinful things we do, we only end up letting Satan manipulate us and make slaves of us.

Many of us get trapped like this. We begin by lying to others, trying to conceal our weaknesses and failings from them so that they will not think less of us. We then become so adept at lying to others, we begin to fool ourselves in thinking all is right when it isn't. We eventually end up lying to God, justifying our sinful thoughts and actions. The devil has a field day!

When, however, we take the truth about our feelings to God, we take away the power the devil has over us and open ourselves to the grace of God that allows us to overcome our weaknesses and failings. Try it and see if this doesn't work. The next time somebody makes you mad, don't put on your best face and act like nothing has happened. Tell God how miserable you are and see how quickly he makes you feel better. The next time you are attracted to somebody, don't try to pretend you aren't because you are afraid it might hurt God. Confess your feelings to him and notice how his grace sweeps over you blowing the temptation away.

Take the truth of your heart to God. That's step 2 to being in Christ.