Help and Tell

The other day I was surrounded by a group of children in a church. They were having a discussion about sin.

An adult asked them if they knew what sin was. Shy to respond to the lady, she replied “Sin is evil doing as well as a mistake you might have made at some point.”

The youth’s eyes were filled with interest once she said “I have made many mistakes.” They sat at the edge of their chairs, as she said “let me include you in on a little secret, so have your parents.”

She revealed one of many mistakes that she made and they opened up. One eleven year old said, “Mistakes are good for you because you learn from them and grow.”

As I thought of this predicament, I considered our young people today and their outlook of sin. Many of them are not aware of what sin is and how it is harmful.

In life the mistakes we make are not a secret. Our heavenly Father knows everything we do. It is when we try to keep our mistakes a secret that someone will fall and be hurt.

Consider Abraham, he went to Egypt because there was a severe famine. He told his wife to pretend she was his sister. Sarah was beautiful and he knew the Egyptians would fall over when they got a look at her. He believed they would kill him but spare her life if they presented themselves as married.

He said to Sara, “Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you” (Genesis 12:13).

The Egyptians did think she was beautiful. She was taken into the palace and they treated Abraham well (Genesis 12:14-16).

But Pharaoh and his household was inflicted with serious diseases by the Lord because of Abrahams wife. Pharaoh called Abraham in his room and asked “What have you done to me, why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?” (Genesis 12:18)

Because Abraham lied Pharaoh and his household had became ill with diseases. It is against God to mess with a married woman just as it is against God to lie. Nevertheless, the trickling of this mistake does not stop here.

Isaac Abraham’s son came to a time that there was a famine in the land. He went to the king of the Philistines in Gerar. “When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister,’ because he was afraid to say, ‘She is my wife.’ He like his father thought the men would kill him on account that his wife was beautiful” (Genesis 26:7).

Abimelech said to Isaac. “What have you done to us?” one of the men might have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guiltiness upon us. “And Abimelech charged all his people, saying; He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death” (Genesis 26:10-11).

This repeated act tells me that Abraham never sat down to tell Isaac the mistake he made. It reveals that Abraham must have felt bad about his actions. Perhaps it was unheard of for him to speak of it again because of the infliction that he caused upon the Pharaoh.

How many mistakes have you made and not shared with another? The youngster recognized that mistakes are good for you because you learn from them and grow. What area in your life are you not fertile because you refuse to share a mistake that has been made in your life?

Don’t be ashamed to the point that you cause another to fall. Be a blessing and help someone else today from falling. Look at the youth in your life and help the generations that are coming behind you. Reveal what the Lord has placed on your heart to reveal and be a testimony.

Pray to God to help you share the true meaning of sin to others. Ask the Lord to grant you an opportunity to admit your faults or areas you have felt victimized so someone else might not be a victim? Call upon the Lord to help you increase the awareness of sin to others. For the Lord calls us to encourage one another.