Training for Truth

Training for truth

How do you train for truth?
Set the example. If truth isn’t important to you, it won’t be to your children.
I can give you 100 excuses why I do not obey, but the fact is, I still did not obey. I show that I do not value obedience, I value excuses. That’s what my children will learn and remember.
Love truth.
We have strayed so far from God that we do not even know truth.
We tell ourselves, “This one time won’t matter.” But it does.
“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (I John 1:8)

Light exposes wrong. What is the light? God’s Word. Either we hide in the darkness, not allowing the light to show us our wrong, or we, like Isaiah say, “Woe is me, for I am ruined. Because I am a man of unclean lips… for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)
When we see the King, we see ourselves.
When we know truth, we recognize our lies.
When the government trains to identify counterfeit money, they do not study the wrong money. They study what is real. When they know REAL, they can find anything that does not match real.
Do you know REAL?
Love truth.
Confront.
Do not allow falsehood.

I am strict when it comes to deception and lies, spoken or lived. When I ask a question and my son does not answer, he is deceiving me. When I ask everyone, “Have you brushed your teeth?” And one son does not respond. I ask him directly. He did not answer, because he did not brush his teeth. He is trying to deceive me into thinking that he did. He heard me. It was not a mistake or an accident. My child chose to deceive. That is a trust issue. Without trust, I can give no privileges, no responsibility.
I do not allow excuses.
I do not allow lenience.
I address it every time.
Confess.
I question and listen, even to silence, until he admits his wrong.
I question specifically, directly. Until he can admit that he lied. Remember the first article (Believing a Lie) where he will use ‘they’ to remove responsibility and distract.
This confrontation is never convenient. But it is priority. It must be done.
Conquer.
Once confession is sincere, specific, and stated, we plan what will help him not to do it again. Does he need more supervision? Does he need more boundaries to keep temptation away? Set him up for success.
Find something to help him remember.
We memorize verses on truth. God’s word will not return void. It will come back to his mind when he needs it.
Living a lie can easily become a habit. That habit becomes hard to break.
Repattern thoughts to avoid the possibility.
Before I ask questions, I remind him that truth is important. He considers. He tells the truth.
Repeat.
How much do you love truth? If you seek it, you will want it in your child.
I don’t want to take the time. I wish that I didn’t have to start the questioning again. I hope that this is the last time. Do not despair. Love truth in your child, for your child.
“It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.” Luke 16:17.
Truth always wins.