Greater Holy War

The prophets and saints do not shirk discipline. Their first discipline is to slay this self that is controlled by desires and lusts. That is the “Greater Holy War.”
When they achieve this, and establish themselves in the station of security, then wrong and right become revealed to them.
Yet they are still engaged in a great struggle, for these mortals do everything wrong. The saints see this and must endure it. If they do not, and speak out declaring those mortals wrong, not one person in Heaven or on Earth will stand beside them. But God bestows on the saints a great and mighty capacity to endure. Out of a hundred wrong acts, they mention one, so that it will not become difficult to overcome. The other mistakes they hide and even praise, saying, “That wrong of yours is right,” so that little by little they can overcome this ignorance.

It is the same when a teacher is teaching a child how to write. When the child writes their first whole line, the child runs to show it to the teacher. In the teacher’s eyes it is filled with mistakes, but the teacher speaks to the child kindly and encourages them, “That is excellent. You have written well. Bravo, bravo! Only this letter is not quite right, this is how it should be. And this other letter looks like this.” The teacher calls a few letters wrong out of that line, and shows the child how they ought to be written. The rest is praised, so the child will not lose heart. The child’s weakness gathers strength from that approval, and so gradually they are taught and assisted on their way.
Fihi Ma Fihi - Discourse 31