So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.- Romans 14.12-13

Each one of us will give an account of himself to God?

Did you see that? We must give an account of ourselves. It says nothing about giving an account for this brother or that sister. The passage says that we need to take account of ourselves. While we are admonished to confront others with open sin and to must do so in love, our first responsibility in holiness is always us.

So here are a few simple guidelines to help us help others. Don’t be so quick to judge. Don’t be a stumbling block. Don’t cause your brother to fall.

We really do need to watch out for each other. There seems to be a tendancy for us to make full use of our liberty to do whatever and to not really worry too much about how it impacts others.

We are told elsewhere that the purpose of our liberty is not to please us, but to love others along their way. We do need to be careful about our how actions are going to affect those around. Are we going to turn them off the to the gospel because we have to have our freedom?

That’s not love. We need to watch out for each other. That’s how we use our freedom.

And we see here that we are going to account to God for how we do it.