In your ministry and discipleship to people (not just pastors), desiring to walk in the ways of your Master, how do you discern when someone is…
– the Pharisee that Jesus called out as a viper, a white-washed tomb filled with dead men’s bones?
– the money changers whom Jesus drove out of the temple after turning over and wrecking their livelihoods?
– the rich young man who wanted to secure his place in the kingdom but after being unwilling to do what Jesus said to follow him, he walked away sad and Jesus just let him go?
– the woman at the well whom Jesus saved?
– the woman caught in adultery that Jesus forgave?
– the sinners with whom Jesus ate?
– the Jesus-denying, cursing disciple to whom Jesus gave leadership?
– the lost sheep that He leaves the 99 to go and rescue?
In other words, how do you know when to call a wolf pretending to be a sheep a wolf, when to continue to press into impacting the life of a professing believer that doesn’t appear to want to make much of Jesus, and when to let them go?