Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Patrick Miller. The other day my three-year-old son told me his first lie.

I'm not sure that he really understood what he was doing, so I sat down with him and tried to explain it,

and I told him that we always tell the truth.

The problem is that my son has a really sensitive conscience,

which means that he wants to do most things right.

He wants to do what's best.

And that means that when we have conversations like this, he can get dejected really quickly.

He'll start crying, not because he's sad that he got caught doing something wrong, but because he feels a deep sense of shame.

And of course that's not what I want, but it's hard as a parent to navigate helping your

kids understand what's right and wrong without inducing some of those feelings sometimes.

Anyway, through his tears, he's crying on my lap, he looks up at me and he says,

Daddy, I'll never lie again. I'm sorry.

It was sweet.

And of course, for his sake, I want that to be true, but I know it won't be. I know he'll lie to me again.

And it'll probably be about something far worse than sneaking a piece of candy,

covering himself with chocolate, and then denying it after the fact.

As he said that, I couldn't help but see myself in my own relationship with God.

How many times have I been in the pits of shame and guilt and promised God I'll never do it again.

Of course, God wants that to be true as much as I want that to be true for my son.

And yet he knows that I'm a recovering evildoer who lapses back into destructive habits, decisions,

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