TO TELL THE TRUTH DEFINES US AS BELIEVERS

TO TELL THE TRUTH DEFINES US AS BELIEVERS

“Who did this?” asked my teacher. Thirty children tried to think about not only what they had done,

but also what our teacher might have found out.

“Who did this?” asked my teacher once more. She wasn’t really asking, she was demanding an answer. She seldom became angry, but she was this time. She held up a piece of broken glass and asked, “Who broke this window?”

“Oh, oh,” I thought. I was the one who broke the window. I had not done it intentionally. It was caused by an errant throw of a baseball. I was working on my knuckleball. It needed more work. How would I be able to pay for a big window like that? I didn’t even get an allowance. My father is going to have a fit,” I thought. I didn’t want to raise my hand, but some force much stronger than I was pulling it skyward. I told the truth.

“I did it.” I said no more. It was hard enough saying what I had.

My teacher went to one of our library shelves and took down a book. She then began walking towards my desk. I had never seen my teacher strike a student, but I fear she was going to start with me and she was going to use a book for the swatting.

“I know how you like birds,” she said as she stood looking down at my guilt-ridden face. “Here is that field guide about birds that you’re constantly checking out. It is yours. It’s time we get a new one for the school anyway. The book is yours and you will not be punished as long as you remember that I am not rewarding you for your misdeed, I am rewarding you for your truthfulness. Because to tell the truth defines us as believers either young or old, you must always tell the truth.”

As believers, truthfulness in all that we do is what set us apart from the rest of the world. It defines our faith. It makes us stay on the right path and never going astray. It makes the Holy Spirit reside within us. It makes GOD happy with us and like the teacher rewarding her student; our Heavenly Father will surely reward us. Just remember that to tell the truth defines us as believers.