GOD WANTS US TO TELL THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read 1 Kings 22:10, 12-23.

Verse of the Day: “I, the Lord, speak only what is true and right” (Isaiah 45:19).

“Travis! Tricia!” Dad called. “Come here, quick!”

Tricia turned the corner from the kitchen to the living room, while her twin brother Travis galloped down the stairs from his bedroom.

“What’s wrong?” Tricia asked her father.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Dad said. “I just wanted you guys to see this.” He pointed the remote control at the television and turned up the volume. A courtroom scene filled the screen, and a small transparent logo in the corner of the screen read, “Trial TV.” A woman in her mid-thirties placed her hand on a Bible as the court clerk asked, “Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

The woman answered, “I do,” and took her seat beside the judge’s high, wood-paneled bench.

Dad pointed the remote at the screen and turned down the volume again.

“Did you hear what that man said?” Dad asked the twins.

“Uh-huh,” Travis said with a nod. “He asked her to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

Dad nodded back at Travis. “That’s right. Why? Why didn’t he just say, ‘Do you promise to tell the truth?’”

The twins stared blankly at Dad for a few moments. Finally, Tricia spoke.

“Because a person could tell the truth without telling the whole truth,” she offered. “Like, if me and Travis each stole twenty dollars from Mom’s purse and you asked us about it, I could say, ‘Travis stole from Mom’s purse,’ and not tell you that I did too. That would be the truth, but not the whole truth.”

“That’s exactly right,” Dad said.

“Or,” Travis interjected, “I could say, ‘Yes, I took money from Mom’s purse, but I only took a dollar’ when I really took twenty dollars. The first part would be the truth, but I’d be adding a lie to it, so I wouldn’t be telling ‘nothing but the truth.’”

“Right again,” Dad said. “You two are pretty smart. Now, let me ask you one more question: Which do you think God wants us to do-tell the truth, the whole truth, or nothing but the truth?”

“That’s easy, Dad,” Travis said. “He wants us to do all three!”

“Yeah, because he’s a God of truth, right, Dad?” Tricia said.

Dad nodded and smiled at his twins. “That’s the truth!”

TO DISCUSS: Why is it important to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

TO PRAY: “Lord, we need your courage to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”