Confront Carefully

Some people love to tell other people exactly where they think they are wrong. They claim they are being like Jesus. In Matthew 12 Jesus called the Pharisees a "brood of vipers". Strong, inflammatory, accurate words. But we need to exercise wisdom and discretion in imitating Christ's example here. Don't get me wrong, what Jesus did was good and right. It was perfect. The sinless Son of God always acted perfectly. It is precisely because He is God and we are not that we should be careful when calling a spade a spade. A biblical example is Acts 23:1-5 where Paul called the high priest a whitewashed wall. Chastised for it, he apologized, admitting he was wrong by quoting Ex. 22:28. You see, Jesus knew exactly what was in people's hearts. He knew their motives. Paul didn't, and either do we. It's 1 Samuel 16:7 for us once again, "man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." That's why we must exercise extreme caution when confronting. Humble-bold, gospel-changed servant-leaders can seek to do nothing less than this as they seek to engage others with the gospel.