Summary: "Shoulder to shoulder, then fold it over," Jordan recited as he laid a final T-shirt in the laundry basket. He glanced up as his father came in and set several bags of groceries on the counter. Jordan greeted him with a smile. "Hi, Dad!" he said. "Mom's not back from her Bible study yet, but I had a snack, and I've already done my chores." He patted the clothes he had folded. "Good," Dad said cheerfully. "How was school?" "Okay," replied Jordan. "I don't have homework, so can I go over to Drew's?" Eyeing the laundry Jordan had folded, Dad lifted a T-shirt and examined it. "Where did you get this load of laundry?" he asked. "In the laundry room, of course," replied Jordan. Dad frowned and shook his head. "The basket with clean clothes is in the hallway," he said. "You got socks out of it this morning, remember?" "Oh no!" Jordan exclaimed. "You mean I wasted time folding dirty clothes?" He looked at the basket. "I didn't even notice that those things weren't clean," he said. "They don't look dirty. Just this once, can we put them away and not tell Mom?" Dad chuckled. "You really think she wouldn't notice?" he asked. "Jordan, when we try to hide wrong things we do, we only deceive ourselves." "Deceive," echoed Jordan. "We talked about that in Bible club last night. Mr. Phil read a verse that says something about deceiving ourselves. He said that's what we do when we try to convince ourselves that some sinful thing we've done is not so bad and isn't really sin." Dad nodded. "We sometimes manage to fool ourselves and other people, but we don't fool God at all." Jordan sighed. "Well, I guess it wasn't sinful to fold this stuff, but putting it away to deceive Mom would be," he said, looking at a small stain in one of the shirts he had folded. "It wouldn't fool her for very long, anyway. It wouldn't even fool me--I'd feel guilty about it. I guess I better put these back in the laundry room and fold the clothes in the other basket. Want to help me?" "Sure," agreed Dad with a grin, "if you'll help me put away the groceries." How About You? Do you try to convince yourself that some wrong thing you've done is okay and you're not sinning? It's easy to see that things like murder, stealing a lots of money, or bowing down to idols is sin, right? How about stealing just a little, speaking rudely, being jealous of someone who has a toy you want, or pretending to be busy with schoolwork when you should be helping with chores at home? Do you recognize those as sin, too? Examine your life, confess your sin, and receive forgiveness. Today's Key Verse: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8) Today's Key Thought: Don't try to hide sin
