That’s embarrassing. You raised your kids to love the Lord, be honest, work hard, and be a person of integrity. Then we realize—they’re not. We feel like a failure. Where did we go wrong? If we ARE teaching our kids those things, we’re not failures. We have to remember that we’re raising little sinners who need Jesus. We can’t expect them to be perfect little angels. Without Christ, they can’t be. What’s important is how we try to correct this. Don’t lose your cool and sin yourself. Sternly tell them WHY it’s wrong to cheat. It’s stealing. And it’s sin. I love what Proverbs says, “the integrity of the honest keeps them on track; the deviousness of crooks brings them to ruin” (MSG).

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Suggested Reading: Proverbs 11:3;  Proverbs 12:11; Proverbs 12:24