Only Restraining Behavior

In his book, Secrets of Dymanic Communication - Preparing and Delivering Powerful Speeches, Ken Davis tells of an experience he had on an airplane that provided him with an excellent illustration to use in a talk to some Youth.

A small child was running up and down the aisles of the airplane. She was a beautiful child, but unsupervised she was a little demon. She was disburbing the other passengers until something she did brought it all to halt. She climbed over the back of a seat and landed in the lap of a businessman, but not bruising his forehead. He called a flight attendant who brought the child's mother who took the child and made her sit in her seat. After putting the seal belt across the child, she said, "Now you sit still."

The motheraw that her daughter was still, but she had a huge grin on her face. After a couple of moments she her daughter, "Why are you smiling?" "Because," said the little girl, "I may be sitting on the inside, but on the outside I'm still running around."

The Davis wrote:

"I almost let it pass as a simple snide remark from an undisciplined and unruly child. . .This was a perfect illustration of one of the points I was considering in my speech. Many times we restrain the outside behavior of teenagers in the church without considering what is on the inside. These kids remain dutifully obedient as long as the seat belt of rules is enforced. Yet if we do nothing to change their inner attitudes, they'll release the seat belt as soon as they leave home, and the inner person will come out. What may have seemed like genuine faith will have turned out to be only outward restraint.? (pp. 64-65)