Practicing the Truth to Be Honest, She Feels at Ease and at Peace

By Tian Jing

Xiaoya was going to spend one day excitedly at her aunt’s house. Her two cousins were also just at home and they wanted to go shopping with Xiaoya. She refused because of the hot weather. They failed to persuade her, and with a small disappointment, they said, “OK. So you just stay at home and prepare dinner.” And her aunt said, “Xiaoya, there is the Bible on the table. You can read it when you get your things done.” She agreed happily. After they left, Xiaoya steamed buns on a gas stove, and then returned to her bedroom, going to read the Bible.

But something occurred to her mind, “There is a show I am following. Let me watch for a while and then read the Bible. They won’t know this.” At once, she got away from the Bible, picked up her phone, and began to enjoy her favorite TV show.

Time passed virtually unnoticed. Xiaoya totally indulged in the episode, and completely forgot the steamed buns. While watching with amusement, she suddenly tranced a horribly sticky mess. After a second of curiosity, she remembered the steamed buns all of a sudden. She ran to the kitchen immediately after dropping her phone. Passing by the living room, she saw it was already smoke-filled. Without stopping to think, she hastened to turn off the gas and get the lid off the pot. She was dumbfounded. Water had been boiled away, and the buns were burnt, and even the pot was blackened. Seeing this, she rashly picked up some water and poured it into the pot, but sadly, a few drops of water fell on the glass stove, leading to glass cracks. Xiaoya was obviously startled, thinking, “I screwed it up. What can I do? I am going to die. My aunt and cousins just asked me to cook. What did I do? Burned buns, blackened pot and even the broken glass stove—How can I explain to them after they come back?”

The kitchen was a bloody mess. Xiaoya was dying to slap herself. It was all her fault for being fascinated by the show and forgetting the dinner. She couldn’t help but worry about how to explain to her aunt and cousins. “If I tell the truth, they will definitely blame me for the negligent accident. I promised them I would read the Bible at home, but I watched the TV instead. I said empty words, and was not honest at all. They must no longer trust me again. I cannot tell them the truth. I will come up with a panacea.”

She walked around in the room, and had an idea, “How about telling them that I was totally attracted by the scriptures and forgot the steamed buns? This statement may prevent me from being blamed. No one will ever know the truth if I keep it secret.” When she reveled in her smart idea, she thought of what the Scripture says, “Shall not God search this out? for he knows the secrets of the heart” (Psalm 44:21). “The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly” (Proverbs 20:27). Her heart skipped a beat, “Yes, God sees into the depths of people’s hearts. He knows my every action and every thought. I can tell lies to my aunt and cousins, but I cannot fool God. Patently the accident happened because I got so caught up binge-watching, I wanted to speak lies with my eyes open. Isn’t this lying and deceiving? God is watching now, and He doesn’t like this kind of person.” Thinking of this, Xiaoya decided to be honest. Even if she would be criticized, she will be honest and admit her mistake; no matter how they will blame her, she will face and accept it.

“Bang bang bang”, a knock at the door made her nervous. After taking a deep breath and trying to calm down, she went to open the door. They entered the room and frowned, and my cousin asked curiously, “Why is there a smell of burnt?” Xiaoya was looking down and embarrassed to say, “Buns were steamed for a long time because I forgot to turn off the gas. That’s why they were all burnt. … And the glass stove was also broken.” My aunt went to the kitchen in a hurry, and my cousin blamed me, “What did you do at home? How did you forget it?” Everyone was staring at Xiaoya. In such a circumstance, Xiaoya felt conflicted about whether she had to tell the truth. She silently prayed to God, “O God, I clearly know that lying is not what You like. I want to be an honest person, but it’s hard to speak out. I am afraid of being criticized and have no idea what to do. Please help me be an honest person.”

After prayer, she was reminded of some Bible verses. “But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatever is more than these comes of evil” (Matthew 5:37). “And said, Truly I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). These verses enabled her to know that God likes honest people and doesn’t like deceitful people. As God requires, being honest means speaking and acting truthfully, calling a spade a spade, no distortion of the facts. What’s more, God makes it clear that only honest people are praised by God and allowed to enter God’s kingdom. Lying and deceiving are what crafty people do, which is hated by God. Understanding God’s will, without further hesitation, Xiaoya had the courage to come clean and tell the details of what had happened.

Afterward, she felt greatly released, no depression at all. Telling the truth brought her a sense of peace, ease and brightness. She thought her aunt and cousins would blame her, but on the contrary, there were no accusations. They were so kind and smiled, “Thank God. You have the courage to speak honestly. You have put God’s words into practice. It can be seen that you are willing to be an honest person who is pleasing to God. That is a good thing. Don’t worry. We can buy new things.” Her two cousins also nodded with a smile.

What Xiaoya learned the most from this experience is: Being honest is so good, and not tiring. Deceitful people live in a really tiring way—they can’t feel any release. It’s so good to be honest and it’s the only way to have peace and ease.