He was seventeen. (He told me his age in a later conversation.) But that isn’t the interesting part of the story. Over the weekend my wife and I stayed in one of those motels that includes breakfast. I watched this young man come into the room while I was enjoying my Honey Nut Cheerios. He was Jewish and he headed straight for the bacon. Hurriedly he downed four strips knowing his father was not far behind. By the time dad entered the young man was standing there smiling and holding a nice plate full of fruit.
Now I could have been really mean and have thrown him under the bus by telling his father what I had witnessed. But why? One of life’s few lessons I have learned is, it is not important to tell everything one knows. However, I am telling you. But that can’t get the boy into trouble. Only in court do we swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Other than that we really shouldn’t tell everything.
Have you ever been in church or a prayer meeting when someone started confessing everything they had done wrong and how it related to the wrongs others have done? That’s a bad situation. Secret sins are to be confessed to God secretly. Jesus definitely talks about closet prayers. (Matthew 6:6) Unfortunately many people’s reputations have been ruined by some well-meaning (I’m being generous.) soul who never learned not to cleanse their personal conscience in public. Don’t fear the last verse of Ecclesiastes about God bringing every secret thing into judgment. That’s only for those not saved. According to Jesus in John 5:24 the redeemed get to skip judgment. Oh how grand!
Written by Roger Bothwell on April 23, 2013
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org