The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way,
but the foolishness of fools is deceit.

Proverbs 14:8

I’ve shared my story of being a consummate liar in my younger years and the challenges of keeping straight in my mind all the lies I told. What was included in my habitual lying was the horrible sin of deceit. Unlike some lies which are told at the spur of the moment; deceit carries with it the underpinning of premeditation. You can tell a lie now and then without premeditation being involved, but you can’t plan a deceit without including lies as part of the premeditation. 

“Did you take a cookie from the jar and eat it?”, Mother asks.

“No,” Mary whimpers.

Here we have a lie. So far, no premeditation. No deceit, yet! It doesn’t take hours or even minutes to form a deceit. Mary can either fess up and tell the truth as her mother continues her inquiry, or she can devise a deceitful plan even while her mother is still speaking. Her older brother took the cookies out and gave her one. Or, she did take the cookie from the jar and then decided to put it back, but Rover snatched it out of her hand and ate it. These ideas have formed in little Mary’s mind quicker than it took her to smash the cookie in her mouth. No one has had to teach Mary to lie or to teach her how to develop a plan of deceit in her mind. She just knows how to do it. 

Why? Because Mary, like all of us, was born with a sin nature [Thank you Eve and Adam!] and that sin nature flourishes from a very early age. Very likely, Mary has no idea she is sinning. It is simply her nature to sin: to tell lies, to form a deceit, to stomp her foot and scream when she reaches for the hot tea kettle when Mother has said, “No!” and on and on. A wise and godly parent recognizes these tendencies and repeats to Mary over and over again about what is sin and what is righteous. 

 Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Even at three and four years of age, Mary has a decision to make. Tell the truth or lie some more. It is this ‘lying some more’ that takes the sin of lying into the darker depths of sin; namely, deceitfulness. Of course, four-year-old Mary has no idea what deceitfulness means, but she still knows how to think it out and then to put the plan into words and actions. Every parent knows this is true. And, hopefully, most parents are astute enough to know nipping deceitfulness in the bud at an early age is vital. [This isn’t a parenting blog, so won’t expound more on that.]

This is a blog about fools though; at least for these 31 Days! And few parents want their children to grow up to be fools. Foolish sometimes…Yes…everyone behaves foolishly once-in-awhile. But to be a fool…NO! Parents and teachers should know that fools will not have an easy or satisfying life.

Proverbs 10:1

A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother. 

Solomon isn’t done discussing deceit and neither are we, but more later. For now, let’s nip in the bud any idea that deceit is an option for the Christ-follower: young or old!