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Sometimes success looks like failure.
My niece posted this raw, real, honest revelation on social media: “This morning my friend called me a fantastic mother. What a gift! While the day started out with a bit of fun, to be honest, I don’t feel like I measure up to that exquisite label. Today I feel like I don’t even know how to parent well and that I’m grasping at straws to get through to one of my kiddos. Today I sat outside a closed bedroom door while one child calmed down, reading to my other child and praying for God to take the ‘log out of my own eye’ so that I can see the situation, my kids, and myself more clearly.”
I replied with these words…
Will you accept some encouragement from your uncle?
People with high ideals and good character, of necessity, are also people given to introspection and self-examination.
You, Erin, I’m delighted to say, are a person of high ideals and good character.
But…
…this exposes you to a risk which should be delicately avoided.
When Jesus spoke of splinters and logs, he was particularly teaching about hypocrisy.
Satan — who does not have high ideals and good character — will try to afflict you with a disproportionate sense of hypocrisy.