Daily Dilemma: Lie for free ice cream?
Welcome to the first Daily Dilemma! It's a new idea I want to try out with you, and it'll be a fictional story where you can decide what the person in the story should do, and making your choice based on the Bible. In today's story, I wrote it as myself in the story; in the future, you might be in it!
So here we go:
The Dilemma
The other day I went out to eat with my family, and we heard that this restaurant gave a free ice cream to you if it was your birthday. I thought to myself, “Well, it’s not my birthday, but I could just say it was, then I could get some free ice cream!”
So do you think I should have said that? It wouldn’t have hurt anyone, right? The ice cream wouldn’t cost the restaurant all that much money.
Or, if it was actually my sister telling me I should say it was my birthday, how do you think I should have responded to her?
Your Turn
Leave me a voice message and tell me what you would do, or vote in the poll below:
What does the Bible say?
The Bible has some verses we can learn from about this:
Colossians 3:9 “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices…”
In this verse, the writer (the Apostle Paul) talks about the “old self”, which is our sinful nature. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He showed He was more powerful than sin.
Through the Holy Spirit, Christians now have the power to ignore our old sinful natures (which can cause us to lie and hurt each other) and instead can obey God's commands.
Hebrews 13:16Â “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
Instead of trying to find ways to satisfy our selfish desires, like lying to get free ice cream, Christians should use their time and resources “to do good and to share with others”, as the verse says. Why? Because those are some of the ways we can please God.Â
Well, why should we want to please God? It goes back to Jesus' sacrifice again. He did something so incredibly generous and merciful for each one of us, dying to pay the punishment for the bad things we've done. Because of Jesus' huge sacrifice, we can show our gratitude through everyday sacrifices by serving other people, whom He loves.
