Recently I was blown away when a good friend of mine suggested to his son that he looked at a friends homework since he didn\’t have time to do his own work. I just couldn\’t understand why he was suggesting this to his kid, so I asked him. He explained that the homework wasn\’t for a grade and so it really didn\’t matter.
Every day, we are faced with opportunities to cheat. We might say we donated 15 shirts to Goodwill when really we only donated 9. It could be the fact that we get to work at 8:30 and leave a half hour before 5:00. Whatever the case, current society encourages people to get ahead no matter what the cost. The issue is that usually with these "small infractions" no one notices, so the "little white cheat" sin goes unnoticed by the world.
- A teacher doesn\’t grade or take up the work, so who does it hurt if your kid copies a friend’s work?
- Chances that the IRS would audit you over the overembellishment of your donated goods is pretty slim.
- Unless your boss is sitting at the door, she might not notice you shaving a few minutes off the clock.
Why does it matter if you cheat? It matters because it becomes an issue of the heart. The more that you practice committing minor infractions the easier that it will become. Over time those infractions will give way to larger infractions and those, too, will become easier to commit. It then causes a snowball effect or even a downward spiral.
Not every kid who copies his friend’s homework will one day go on to become Bernie Madoff. It is so important though that we are helping kids understand that God’s will is that we would do everything we can to become like Christ. Christ did not cheat. Christ did not lie. Will every Christian fall into Satan’s trap at some point? Absolutely, but as parents and leaders of kids, we should equip our kids with the resources to avoid those temptations.
FLYTE is designed to help tackle those tough questions and today, we are giving you a free session: "Is It Really Cheating?" to use with your preteens at church. What do you think? How do you as a kidmin leader equip your kids for the challenges they will face in today’s society?
Dowload your sample session materials below:
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