My sister Gayle has a repeated phrase, learned from an experience in our childhoods. She speaks it every time someone is caught red handed and should have known better, “Warm TV’s tell no lies.”
As my siblings and I entered adolescence and could be trusted to keep ourselves alive until mom and dad got home from work, we were given daily chores to be done each afternoon in addition to our studies and music lessons. Life was full and mom and dad wanted us to have the best they could offer, so everyone had to do their part. Quality of life depended on it.
There was a television in our home, but it wasn’t on much. At the time there were only four channels, the three major networks and PBS. We were not to have the television on when mom and dad weren’t home. But…… real children work harder at circumventing set norms than living up to them. We were mostly real! Some days we rushed through our chores and studies, doing a substandard job, and sat down to catch a show before the sound of car tires crunched on the gravel driveway. One afternoon dad came home earlier than expected and there was a scurry of turning knobs, leaping over furniture and looking like we had been diligently powering through a drudgery of responsibilities. Dad never asked a question he already knew the answer to, such as, “What have you been up to?” or “Were you watching TV?” He recognized the temptations we faced and he parented in such a way as to protect us from things we weren’t mature enough to process and confront while leading us as we grew and matured. He knew when he laid his hand on the TV and it was warm that it had been on, and we had disobeyed and acted beneath his expectations.
You may be wondering what consequences he pronounced…… None, except, we were made to understand that hidden sins are still sins. It wasn’t an issue of trust, but a lesson of faith in those who know best and long for everyone to remain physically, mentally and spiritually healthy. We were not held corporately responsible, but individually made to know that lies are festering boils and rot everything they touch, and habits of rebellion and defiance end in noses cut off to spite perfectly reasonable faces.
Each person’s spiritual journey is much the same as a warm TV. Questions of authority, autonomy and fairness arise in every conflict until the moment you realize there are no secrets between you and your Loving Creator. He sees you EXACTLY, with perfect, unfiltered clarity, as you truly are. This is a tremendous peace or terrifying prospect. But, along with the certainty of taxes, you will face judgement for yourself alone. Make things right. Confess, repent and walk in righteousness.
The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them. Ezekiel 18:20.
Blessings,
Gretchen