Logs, anyone?

Something I have been thinking about lately is what to do with new believers who just don't quite get it yet. How do you tell someone that, quite honestly, that they are living in sin, especially when they don't seem too open about taking advice or admitting that they might be at fault? How do you tell someone that they need to stop yelling at others, especially non believers, for the specks in their eyes, when they have a log or several in their own eyes? How do you speak the truth in love, letting them know that you've been there too, and that this doesn't mean rejection from yourself or from God?

In the Epistles, Paul and the other writers were not afraid to be blunt, and even harsh. They sharply rebuked the churches for their gross misbehavior, and the churches responded by shaping up (at least as far as is made clear in the scriptures). Part of me wants to say that the risk is too great, that they are too used to being hurt to take being repremanded, but then I look at scripture, and wonder if our society has made us cowards, and if people will take being repremanded better than we fear.

I also think that we have a tendancy to play down the import of helping others to grown in their walk with Christ. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we have the responsibility to help our sibs. It is not just our comfort or discomfort at their actions that is at stake, but their very souls, and eternal future. What if, becaus of our silence and cowardice, they are saved only as through the fire, and live a wretched life here on earth? Is that really of less consideration than that they might get mad at us?

This is not to say that care and discression should be taken when dealing with such things. It is only to say that such things, ought, in fact, to be dealt with, and in a timely manner. Which, I'm afraid, is much easier said than done.