As a follower of Jesus Christ, before you confront someone over an issue, please make sure you stop and carefully examine your motive. Is your goal to uplift or humiliate them?
Jesus was in the business of lifting and restoring people, and that should also be the believer's business model. Ask yourself, would you approach things differently if you weren't so personally involved? Are you confronting the person to make yourself look better?
Always remember that cutting someone else down in order to lift yourself up is the lowest form of ego gratification. Don't do it! It's a sign of insecurity. According to poet Kahlil Gibran, "To belittle, you have to be little."
Remember Nehemiah's response to those who tried to discourage him from rebuilding Jerusalem's walls? "I'm doing a great job, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?" (Nehemiah 6:3).
Never allow your critics to break your stride. Don't give more credence to the sentiment of a critic than you would do to the encouragement of a friend. Before you put someone else's life under the microscope, stop and examine your own. Are you dealing with the same issue, or one just as bad? Have you really succeeded where you're accusing somebody else of failing? In other words, have you earned the right to be heard? The Apostle Paul writes, "speaking the truth in love we will  grow...in every aspect." Could it be that the situation you're dealing with at the moment is an opportunity to measure your own maturity and make it a spiritual growth experience? Please consider these things as you remain blessed in all things.

Pastor John K. Smarth