The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

DESTINATION DECISIONS | Convo #2: Lies or Truth

• Tosha Williams for FDM

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Lies don’t usually start loud—they start convenient. A small bend of the truth. A quiet omission. A moment that feels easier than honesty. But every step is taking us somewhere.

In this Destination Decisions conversation, Lies or Truth?, we press into the tension we all recognize:  how quickly “little lies” become normal, and why Scripture treats truth not as a preference, but a path. Rooted in Proverbs 12:22, we explore what it means that the Lord delights in people who are trustworthy, and how repeated choices slowly train the heart toward either clarity or confusion.

This episode helps families name what’s really at stake. Lies don’t just damage trust; they make us vulnerable to deception. Truth, practiced consistently, forms discernment, confidence, and freedom. We contrast the enemy’s aim as the father of lies with Jesus’ own words: “I am the Way and the Truth.” Direction matters—and so does destination.

You’ll hear a simple, disarming visual that changes the tone at home: a "Destinations Chart" that pairs Lies with deception and Truth with Jesus’ character. Instead of shaming kids for mistakes, parents learn to ask a better question: Which direction is this choice taking you?

We also introduce a powerful habit—quarterly “truth dates”—creating intentional space for honest conversation through consistent, grace-filled questions that invite confession without fear.

Real change starts with modeling. When parents own their missteps, ask forgiveness, and return quickly to the light, truth becomes the family default.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about direction.

And remember, discipleship starts with a conversation.

The devotion-driven discipleship guide that accompanies this conversation is available in the Family Disciple Me app.

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

SPEAKER_00:

Do you remember your very first lie? I do. I was about three years old when I deliberately lied about a situation, and you know what? I got away with it. Fortunately, I didn't get away with too many lies. Because here's the thing: you get good at what you practice. And that's what we're going to talk about as we continue in our discipleship conversation series and talk about lies versus truth. Hi, my name is Tasha Williams. So I don't know about your house, but at my house back in the day, we had five kids plus an extra one that just continually seemed to show up. His name was Who Dunit because we never knew who did it. If there was an apple that had one bite out of it, none of our kids did it. It was Hoodunit's fault. If there was a baggie filled with food left over from a school lunch that was hidden in the garage, none of our five kids did it. Not a one of them. It was Hoodunett's fault. He did it. Or let's see, if it was the chore of going to feed the chickens and water them and gather the eggs, there were never any eggs. They all magically disappeared. I'm pretty sure who dunnett took them over the years. We had so many stories. And they're kind of funny now, but stories of our kids practicing little lies. And you know, when I was a younger parent, we never put up with lies. And yet I didn't quite know how to couch the language of teaching my kids not to lie. Maybe you've already figured it out and you've got lies under control at your house and there's only truth. But here's the thought that I want to give you. You get good at what you practice. You get good at what you practice. So if you take a bite out of the apple and you say you didn't do it, you're practicing lying. And if you say you ate your sandwich at school lunch, when actually you hid your baggie full of sandwich in the garage, you are practicing lying. If you say you did your chores when you know good and well you only did one part of them and not all of them, you're practicing lying. And we become good at what we practice. This week's verse is Proverbs twelve twenty two and it says The Lord detest lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. This means his favor and his blessing are on people who choose to tell the truth. But we all know it's sometimes tempting to tell little lies and let those slip through our lips. But each and every one of those lies leads us down a path that is away from God and his goodness and his blessing and is toward lies. And here's what we need to help our kids understand. As they tell lies, even little lies, they're going toward a destination. Just like when they tell the truth, it leads them toward the opposite destination. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth. And in the book of Revelation, he is literally called, he's named faithful and true. But on the opposite path, the devil is called a liar, and not just a liar, but the father or the creator of lies. So as we talk about destinations in this series, we know that truth leads us to Jesus while lies ultimately lead us to Satan. Now, have you had a moment to write in chalkboard marker on maybe one of your bathroom mirrors, or maybe you've come up with one of those amazing crafts? But have you put the word destinations on display somewhere for your kids to see? On the left hand side, you're going to write lies, and on the right hand side, you're going to write truth. But on the outside of each of those words, further to the left, I want you to write the word Satan or devil. And then on the outside, the right hand side of truth, I want you to write the word Jesus or God. And here's the visual that we want our kids to see as we talk about destinations and this particular aspect of destinations, lies versus truth. We want them to see that lies ultimately lead us to the enemy, to somebody who wants to destroy us, while truth ultimately leads us to Jesus. And we get good at what we practice. Whichever destination we're walking toward is the destination that we're choosing. So as we tell little lies, we are choosing to walk toward the enemy and we're getting really good at it. But as we choose to tell the truth, we're walking toward our Lord Jesus Christ who loves us so much and is the author of truth. The more lies we tell, the further down that path we go, the problem is that each and every lie makes us more susceptible or more vulnerable to other people lying and to other people's deception. And sometimes we don't even know we're being deceived and lied to until it's too late. On the other hand, when we walk toward truth, Jesus promises that he gives us his Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth and show us things to come. That's one of my favorite Bible verses. I'll put the reference for that in the show notes. We can lay out these two destinations for our kids every time we have one of those moments where it's lies versus truth. And I'm pretty sure every family encounters these obstacles, these moments. The question is, what are we going to do with that? How are we going to disciple our kids through that? One of the best things that my husband has done as a father is for each of our children, once they were about five years old, he began to take each of them out on dates once a quarter, or basically four times a year. And he had a set list of about 20 questions that he asked every child, every time, on every date, every quarter, every year, and he wrote down the answers. He's talked about this many times as the pastor of Vanguard Church, and sometime I should have him on this podcast so that you can hear him talk about these. But the thing that I want to highlight from them is that he gave the kids the opportunity to tell him the truth. And as he wrote down the answers to their questions over the years, these became like a journal of their story. The twenty or so questions that he asked were very specific questions that gave the kids the opportunity to practice telling the truth. One of those questions was, is there anything that you need me to know about your life? Another question was something like Are there any secrets that you have that you should tell me about? Another question was, is there anywhere in your life where you feel unsafe? Questions like these can draw the truth out so that kids can practice telling the truth in a safe, loving environment. Questions like these can also give kids the opportunity to practice lies. And as parents, we don't get to control their depravity any more than anybody else can control our depravity. Each of us gets to choose whether we want lies or truth to be our destination. As parents, we want to model to our kids truth telling. That means that we do not lie to other people. Can you remember the last time you lied? What did it do to you? Did it break your heart? Did it give you the thrill of victory? Did you feel like you got away with something? Or did the Holy Spirit convict you of sin so much that you immediately repented? I remember the last time I lied and the Holy Spirit broke my heart so much that I immediately went back to the people that I lied to and asked their forgiveness, and I asked God his forgiveness. I do not want to practice telling lies in any area of my life because I don't want to get good at them. I don't want to be deceived by other people telling me lies. I want to walk toward our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the one who is faithful and true. I want his Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth and show me things to come. And as I as a parent practice that path, I'm able to model it to those entrusted to me so that they at least have the opportunity to choose to walk that path and see a model set before them. What about you? What is the language of lies and truth that you're using in your home? Are you letting the little lies slip by like they're not a big deal? Are you just excusing them to oh she's little or oh it's not that big of a deal or oh he didn't really mean it? I want to encourage you, parents, you get good at what you practice. So let's practice being truth tellers always in all the grown-up ways that we need to practice it. And then as we seek God and his truth and practice what he speaks about truth into our lives, then we can turn around and speak into the lives of those entrusted to us about practicing and getting good at truth in their lives. As we close, I want to pray Psalm 122 over you. Deliver us, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. Oh friend, let's become good at practicing truth. Let's teach our children in a world filled with lies to get good at telling the truth. May the Lord shine his face upon you as you turn toward his truth and speak that into the next generation. God bless you, friend. Go with him this week.