Lesson on Truthfulness

Truthfulness is a mark of Christianity. However, some Christian parents are very careless in this matter.

There was a lady in a street car trying to keep her little boy awake told him that, if he went to sleep, that man who had all those teeth in his window (referring to a dentist's office they had passed) would come into the car and pull every tooth out of his mouth. The little fellow looked up dreadfully scared, and did his best to keep awake. When that boy finds out what a wrong story his mother has told, he will not believe her even when she tells the truth.

Again there was a little fellow whose mother told him that if he vent to play in a bank from which the men had been drawing sand for a building, a bear would come out and eat him up.

One day another boy tried to coax him to go there and play, but he said, no, he was afraid of the bears. The other boy said there were no bears. "But there are bears cause my mother said there are bears."

While they were disputing, the minister happened to come along, and they asked him if there were bears in the sand-bank. He told them there were none. "But," said the first little boy, "My mother said there are bears there." "I am sorry she said so," said the minister, "but the truth is, there are none."

The child began to cry, and started for home as fast as he could go. "O Mama!" he said, "Did you tell me a wrong story? Did you tell me there be bears down at the sand-bank when there aren't any?" She saw what a dreadful sin she had committed, and
she told him that she was sorry; but she was afraid that if he played there, he would get buried in the sand, and she told him that to keep him away.

"But, Mama, it is such an awful thing to tell a wrong story." "I know it Tommy, I know it," she said, tears coming into her eyes; "and we will ask Jesus to forgive me and I will never do it again." They knelt down, and she was just about to pray when he said, "Wait, Mama, let me ask Him; maybe you won't tell Him truly." That pierced her heart like a dagger. She saw that her little boy had lost confidence in her truthfulness even when she prayed.

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MEMORY VERSE: Proverbs 12:22
"The LORD hates lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful."

KID'S CRAFT: Paint a kiss mark by putting lipstick on the kids and letting them kiss on the center of a clean white paper. Then let them write "I will always tell the truth." under the kiss mark.