Looks Can Be Deceiving

One of the most precious times of childhood are those few years in the beginning when a child’s understanding is not fully developed and they are so naive and innocent. This stage doesn’t last long and passes all too quickly.

I remember when our oldest son, Sean, was in this early stage of life. He was barely three years old at the time and I’ll never forget this profound moment. Being the protective new parents that we were, we tried very hard to shelter our little boy from all the things that we felt were bad for him. We had no T.V., subscribed to no magazines, chose not to walk the mall for entertainment and worked diligently to feed him only healthy foods to nurture his growing body.

One day, my husband came home from the Bible Institute where he was teaching with a pocket full of candy that some generous student had given him. He put it on top of the refrigerator…that out of the way place where we put all the things that we did not want our children to get in to. To this day, the top of the refrigerator is where all personal or private things of mom or dad’s find their resting place.

Later that day, as we gathered in our small kitchen, little Sean wanted his Daddy to pick him up for a hug. Sean was always intrigued by heights and loved being up high with Daddy. As he smiled and scoped the room from high in Daddy’s arms, he spied the candy on top of the refrigerator. Because he had never seen candy before and since he had a ferocious curiosity, he quickly looked at his daddy and asked, “Whas ‘at Daddy?”

Since we still did not want him to “experience” candy, my dear husband turned the situation into a teachable moment. Very seriously he pointed to the candy and with great soberness he told Sean, “Oh son, that’s sin! You don’t want that.” Sean looked at his daddy, looked back at the candy and after a few seconds of quiet contemplation he very seriously said, “I think I need some sin.”

We had a good laugh over that incident at the time but also realized that that is just how Satan works on all of us. He very cleverly attempts to disguise sin and to lessen its hurtfulness to our lives.

Parents, teach your children to avoid the deceitfulness of sin. Don’t stop warning them. Satan has put sin in a pretty package but he cannot take away its bite or sting. We live in a day when good is considered evil and evil is acceptable. I heard just recently of a young lady who grew up in a professing Christian home, graduated from a Christian school, got desperate for a man, became pregnant outside of marriage and is now living with the unsaved man. Many professing Christians have congratulated this young lady on her new pregnancy and I can’t help but wonder about where they are coming from spiritually? It’s still fornication and it’s still sin! You can pretty it up all you want but the Bible is still true. “…whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” Hebrews 13:4

It’s a life-long process to teach your children to see sin as sin…no matter what the world calls it. May God help us to see our own sin as the transgression against God’s law that it really is.