http://bible.com/116/1co.4.3-5.nlt
As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide. So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.
I find enemies asking questions like, “Don’t you think __________________ is going to burn in hell for what he/she did? ”
I find these enemies of the Lord, these unseen dark forces working through the strongholds they have taken up in people’s hardened hearts to lay a trap at my feet. And when it is someone who professes to be a Christian, I voice a rebuff, a gentle warning, because we cannot judge someone’s final destination while they are still upon their journey – unless we have given up hope for their redemption and salvation.
We must be careful with our words, friends. Just because someone is involved in something wrong right now, we do not know their heart, we do not know their struggle, and we do not know the season that God has them in. The devil is a roaring lion waiting for us to pull out our Sword to strike down our brothers like Vain, so that he might devour us. See the lion’s mouth held shut by our fear of the Lord and our obedience and our not judging one another.
Instead let’s pray for their discipline and correction and conviction that will lead them to repentance. And let’s trust in the Lord who is faithful and true.
Harold J. Ballinger 