When we won't come clean...

We had a moment at our house one morning.  It started with a simple question and turned into quite the drama.

One question about what was going on.

But then the insecurity-fed lie.  Then the feigning of ignorance.  Then the guilty look.  Then the defensiveness.  Then the new line of argumentation.  Then the illogical jumps between one thought and another and another and another and another.  Lie followed lie.  Cover-up led to cover-up.

Wait.  I've heard this story before.

A man.  A woman.  A garden.  A serpent.  Deceit.  Cover-up.  Hiding.  Blame-shifting.

Anything but confessing.  Anything but owning up.  Anything but coming clean.

But like in my house and like in the Garden, the father in each situation knew what was really happening.  The only thing that lying did was put distance between the father and children.  Telling the truth might have had consequences, but the truth is the path of relational wholeness.  Keeping it hidden only keeps the division in place.

Honesty precedes intimacy.  True in parenting.  True in marriage.  True in the Kingdom.

See it at work in the Scriptures...

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.  

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.Selah  

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah  (Psalm 32.1-5)

But that's just me thinking thoughts...