Me, Keep Secrets from Him?
Theme of the Week: Stick to Shooting Straight
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him (Colossians 3:10). Bonus Reading: James 5:16, 19-20
Earlier I was at a store to exchange a duplicate wedding gift we'd received. But instead of one replacement item, I found two: a cake plate and a cookie tray. Why not pay the extra and get both? I'd thought. It would disregard the budget, my conscience replied. But since I balanced the checkbook, Russell would never know. Anyway, it was only $6.50—well under our $50 limit.
I took home the cookie tray and hid it in the cabinet but proudly displayed the cake plate. A few weeks later I pulled out the tray and arranged warm snickerdoodle cookies on it. Russell entered the room and casually asked, "Is that new?" I looked him in the eye, smiled, and replied, "No, I've had it."
Now, praying about Russell's lies and being reminded of my own, I knew what I had to do. I found Russell and confessed my dishonesty. My openness made him feel comfortable enough to admit the truth about his golf purchase. When I'd confronted him, he'd been unsure of my reaction, making it seem easier to lie and hope the situation would go unnoticed. We grew closer that day as we asked for, and received, forgiveness, vowing to no longer hide even insignificant things from each other.
—Stephanie Davenport in A Marriage Partnership
My Response: To restore trust, I need to repent of deception by …
Thought to Apply: If we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest with each other. —George Macdonald
Adapted from our sister publication Marriage Partnership (Fall/06) by permission.
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integritymagazine.
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May your truth so live in me, Lord, that every form of deceit is wrung out of my life.
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