Honesty – 1st-5th Grade BIG Idea for March

The Web

Have you ever seen the TV show Lie to Me? The Lightman Group (clever name, isn't it, since light = truth, biblically speaking), made up of psychologists, researchers, and investigators, assist law enforcement and other government agencies in criminal investigations by detecting signs of deception in people's voices, faces, and body language.
The premise behind it is simple and ordinary; the science complex and intriguing. Rather like honesty itself.
On the one hand, honesty is simple.
It always involves a choice.
We choose to tell the truth or to lie.
Honesty is ordinary, too.
Because every one of us,
from Adam and Eve to you and I,
chooses to be honest or dishonest on a daily basis.

On the other hand, honesty (and therefore
dishonesty) is complex and intriguing.
You can be honest (or dishonest) in your words, actions, and attitudes.
You can be honest (or dishonest) in what you don't say or do, as well.
You can set out to lie, and
you can go along with someone else's lie.
And then there are the multitudes of motives for
two-faced, duplicitous, and deceptive dealings.

So simple, honesty, but not always easy! Else no one would weave him- or herself into a tangled web in the first place.
Which is why, come March, we'll be talking about honesty and some of the very practical reasons God teaches and guides us to be honest:

When you're not truthful, you hurt the people you should care about most. Joseph's brothers practiced so many forms of deceit in that whole sell-your-brother-as-a-slave episode you'll weave quite a web recounting them all. (Genesis 37; 45)
Lying to hurt someone else really hurts YOU. Haman's perfidious plot backfired on him. (Esther 3-5; 7)
Truthfulness builds friendships; dishonesty tears them down. Jesus gave even wee, little, fraudulent Zacchaeus a do-over. (Luke 19)
You can lie so much you forget what matters. Treacherous Judas forgot, or deceived himself, about what matters most. (Matthew 26; 27) Note that this week begins the Easter season and the Easter "story" in 252 Basics.

Honesty creates a safety net.
Honest thoughts, words, and actions weave together to
strengthen trusting, happy relationships with others and God.

Dishonesty creates a web.
Lies and deception weave a web that ensnares us,
tearing at the fabric of our relationships with others and God.

So, help kids be careful about what they weave.

By Melanie Williams. © 2010 The reThink Group * www.rethinkgroup.org * All rights reserved. Used by permission