Good Morning.

I pray this greeting finds you well, my friends. As there are new folks being added to our numbers daily, let me first say 'Welcome! Welcome, Ally, Cathy, and Lorna. . .' We have been working our way through the small book of James, (just five chapters), written by the half-brother of Jesus. James is addressing the Jews who had become Christians when they had heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached in Jerusalem, as they had attended the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem. (recorded in Acts 2) As he writes to them, James is trying to bring them along in matters of righteousness, and living a life of faith--both of which are so applicable to us!

So today, we look at James chapter 4, verses 11 and 12, and I am quoting the New Living Translation - Don't speak evil against one another, my brothers and sisters. If you criticize each other and condemn each other, then you are criticizing and condemning God's law. But you are not a judge who can decide whether the law is right or wrong. Your job is to obey it. God alone, who made the law, can rightly judge among us. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. so what right do you have to condemn your neighbor? The NIV uses the term 'slander'--"do not slander one another." Slander is most commonly thought to include falsehoods told of another person, while that may not be the case; the Greek word that James uses here entails repeating things about another person that will harm them--even though those things may be true. Somehow, it seems like women are just a little more guilty of this than men--repeating another woman's dark side or juicy past or the failings of her offspring, always cloaked in a voice of concern, of course. Notice who James is addressing in this passage--'brothers and sisters', fellow Christians who are talking against one another. The litmus test: would you say it in front of them? Consider with me the great refrigerator-magnet verse: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4.29 A new standard: does it benefit, build up? If not, then you may want to 'keep still.'

'God's law' that James refers to is that of Leviticus 19.18 - Love your neighbor as yourself - This is the same law that Jesus repeated as being second in importance to "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. . ." When we pass judgment, criticize and condemn others, we set ourselves up as judge of this law that God has given us; and of course, we will also be judged by the same measuring stick then--Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye. Jesus, Matthew 7.

No indeed, it is not our job or our right to judge another--with our words or with superior thinking. Studying this reminded me of a Saturday-morning cartoon I used to watch as a child. Wile E. Coyote was always setting up bombs to knock out the roadrunner; unfortunately, they always exploded on him! I think our loose tongues can do the same thing to us--not thinking, or maybe even intentional thinking when we criticize or judge another human being always has the potential of blowing up around us.

Let's love well--give others the benefit of the doubt--what do you say?

Love,

Christine