the challenge to the conscience made its mark. They knew he was
talking about them. They had indicted themselves.
(^) This is your task in shepherding your children. You must make a
point of appealing to the conscience. To see them deal with the issues
of their Godward orientation, you must take correction beyond
behavior to addressing the issues of the heart. You address the heart
by exposing sin and appealing to the conscience as the God-given
adjudicator of right and wrong.
(^) Recently, after a worship service, a man approached me in a state
of great agitation. He had observed a young boy stealing some money
from the offering plate after the church service. He felt genuine
concern for the boy. I suggested that he tell the boy’s father so that
the child could benefit from his father’s correction and intervention.
(^) A few minutes later the boy and his father asked to see me in my
study. The child produced $2 and said he had taken it from the
offering plate. He was in tears, professing his sorrow and asking for
forgiveness.
(^) I began to speak to him. “Charlie, I am so glad that someone saw
what you did. What a wonderful mercy of God that you did not get
away with this! God has spared you the hardness of heart that comes
when we sin and get by with it. Don’t you see how gracious he has
been to you?” He looked me in the eye and nodded.
(^) “You know, Charlie,” I continued, “this is why Jesus came. Jesus
came because people like you and your father and me have hearts that
want to steal. You see, we are so bold and brazen that we would even
steal from the offerings that people have given to God. But God had
such love for wicked boys and men that he sent his Son to change
them from the inside out and make them people who are givers and
not takers.”
(^) At this point, Charlie broke down in sobs and drew another $20
from his pocket. He had begun this brief conversation prepared to go
through the motions and give back two of the dollars he had taken.