One of the hardest parts of visiting relatives for me is discipline. Now you must understand that our family is supportive of our commitment to biblical discipline. We don’t always agree on the particulars, but as far as families go, we’re all pretty much on the same page (or close to it), particularly when you consider the number of families with vastly different philosophies and definitions.
Even still, I find it hard to discipline as I always do. Sometimes I’m quicker to intervene, and sometimes I’m slower. Sometimes I feel sheepish because I know someone in my family would handle an infraction differently.Then I feel smug because I see a cousin being naughty, too. In my more spiritual moments, I just feel relief when I see the cousins misbehaving. Somehow I imagine that the cousins must be fully sanctified by now, so it’s encouraging to see that they’re not.
When all is said and done, I know that the myriad of emotions come from the fear of man. There’s no “goodness competition.” We’re all sinners in need of a merciful God, and those that measure themselves by the performance of others’ children are not wise. We need to be praying that God would give us the grace for humility, and I’m fairly certain all those emotions will sort themselves out properly. I’d like to be there someday. 🙂
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