Speak No Evil; James

May the mumbling commence!

Speak no evil.  It is a concise statement, but one difficult to live by.  Yet it is what we are called to do.  Read from James chapter four (NRSV):

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.  There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor? (Verses 11-12)

Do not speak evil of your brothers and sisters – nor your neighbor.  That is hard.  We know well our brothers and sisters and neighbors.  We know the dirt on them.  It is hard to refrain from harping on them. 

It can seem to make us feel better.  It can seem to make us look better.

But not in the eyes of the Lord!  Our Creator sees what division it causes and it grieves Him.

Speak evil of someone else.  Judge them.  Do so at the peril of judging the very Law of God. 

James calls us to spend less time using the Law to judge and more time using the Law to guide our attitudes and thoughts and behaviors.  And we often fall well short on the ideal of the Law.  We explored that idea yesterday.

So, indeed, who are we to judge our neighbor?  We, too, need the mercy of the Lord.  Why not pass along that mercy to those in our debt?

Only the Lord can rightly judge.  God help us all.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out