My husband’s new series on Cbeebies got recommissioned yesterday. Whoop Whoop!! This means that in just a few weeks time he will be starting to plan the next 26 episodes. Our life has rather revolved around this show – its characters and the team involved – for the last year or so. Long may that continue☺

One of the things I most enjoy about the format is the way that it uses real children (not actors) and takes time to film them speaking naturally. My issue with the vast majority of kids’ TV is that children are told what to say and their lines are delivered in a wooden “I have been told to say this by a nice lady” kind of way.

Being ‘real’ is a gift. A lot of people out there are fakes. They pretend they are doing well, when actually they are not at all. I think actors and TV presenters are perhaps the worst at this. They are, as a race, such desperately insecure people that it is rare to find a genuinely unspoilt one. Fortunately there are a few about! But I feel for them. They are paid to pretend to be someone else and I think they can sometimes forget who they really are.

We can all do this to a certain extent. We pretend we have a migraine (rather than just a headache) so we get out of the meeting we don’t want to go to. We say we are busy when an unwelcome visitor is in town”¦ we say we are not hungry when we don’t like the food on offer”¦

And, my friends, God sees it all for what it is.

A number of years ago the Christian world was rocked by a very sad situation as a famous worship leader came clean about the fact that he had lied about having a life-threatening illness to get attention. God used him mightily during this whole time. Even when he was faking it, the songs he wrote and the meetings he spoke at saw amazing signs and wonders. Genuine ones. A close friend of ours was present at one and witnessed it for himself. In the midst of his sin, God used this man and bypassed the fakery to create something genuine and beautiful. I prayed for that guy today. I can’t imagine what kind of life he is living now, but I hope he is moving on with God.

God hates lies. He loves it when we are real, but He is so gracious and loving, that He is even able to use us and everything that happens around us when we are lying, disingenuous and far from Him. I find that awe-inspiring – and not a little scary. Lying gets us into more trouble. Faking it means we have to fake it again to cover up the lie.

Jesus wasn’t wrong when he spoke about the truth setting us free. Ask Him to help you to be a person of truth; the whole truth and nothing but the truth today. So help you God.