The Speck In My Child’s Eye

How can you think of saying, “Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,” when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. Luke 6:42

AS PARENTS, we’re always peering into the lives and character and habits of our children, taking note of areas of growth and progress as well as areas that still require maturation and sanctification. We are quick to correct our children when they speak harshly and complain. We set limits on their screen time and sweet consumption. We are quick to name their jealousy and pride.

Certainly our children’s sins need to be lovingly confronted. But before we speak, before we point, we would be wise to take a look in the mirror with eyes willing to see our own vanity, our own idolatrous obsessions, our own selfishness. Our children struggle with the same sins we do; we’ve just become better at justifying and ignoring them. We need to examine ourselves to see if we’re disciplining our children for sins that we allow ourselves to get away with. Ultimately parents who are grieved and humbled over their own sins are best prepared to deal with the “speck” in their child’s eye. If we deal as firmly with our own sins as we do with our children’s, demonstrating a commitment to obedience as well as an expectation of grace and mercy, we’ll be living out authentic faith before them, the kind of faith they’ll likely want to live out themselves.

Lord, I don’t want to be a hypocrite in my own home. But it is so very hard for me to be humble before my children and to confess my own sins. It is so hard to let them see how much I need your Spirit to empower me for ever-increasing holiness. But I do! I need your power to choose humility and eradicate hypocrisy. Help me to be as rigorous in calling out and forsaking my own sin as I am in calling out and correcting the sins of my children.