The Lying Cereal Box
THE LYING CEREAL BOX
Read Proverbs 12:17-22.
“Can I get the prize out?” Gina asked Dad eagerly, pointing to the back of her cereal box. The picture showed colored candy pouring out of a package.
Dad shook the box. He reached in and brought out the prize—a small, sample-size package of candy. He tossed it to Gina.
When Gina tore open the package a little later, she poured out the candy. She counted every piece—only six. She counted the pieces in the picture on the cereal box. There were 100 pieces. “I thought I would get as much candy as there was in the picture,” she told Dad.
“The people who make the cereal wanted you to think that so you’d buy the cereal,” explained Dad. “They deceived you.”
Gina frowned. “What does deceive mean?”
“Leading someone to believe something that isn’t true,” explained Dad.
That afternoon Gina’s friend Ashley came to play. Gina had recently begun taking piano lessons, so she showed Ashley what she had been learning. “I’ll be your student,” said Ashley. They pretended that Gina was the teacher.
Soon Gina’s friend Beth came to the door. “Do you want to play?” Beth asked.
Gina didn’t want to play. “We’re having a piano lesson,” she said.
After Beth left, Dad asked, “Did you tell Beth the truth?”
Gina shrugged. “I didn’t lie about it,” she said.
“Do you think you deceived her?” persisted Dad.
“Yes,” Gina answered. Then she hurried to the front door. “Come back, Beth,” she called. “You can be in on our piano lesson too.”
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Do you ever deceive someone by giving the wrong idea? Do you give your parents the impression you’re one place when you’re actually somewhere else? Do you get out of doing something by making excuses that aren’t quite accurate? You can lie in ways other than saying something that isn’t true.
TO MEMORIZE:
Do not steal. Do not deceive or cheat one another.
Leviticus 19:11
DON’T DECEIVE.
From the book
