Who do you think you are to judge each other?

Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of 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, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? – James 4.11-12

Judging or not judging is a real hot point. Jesus addressed it in the Sermon on the Mount. We are prone to judge others and the reason is simple – it is easier to judge them than to examine our own hearts. Most of us don’t like what we find when we check out our own hearts.

So we judge others. We speak evil of each other. We put each other down. When we do that we put ourselves on the judge’s chair where only God, the Perfect One, is authorised to sit. Even Jesus says He did not come to judge the world.

When I see my brother in error my job is not to sit as his judge and speak evil of him. It is also not my job to ignore his sin. My job is to go to him in love and compassion to help him deal with his sin. Even that is a scary thing to do because I find so often that the beam in my eye makes me feel so unworthy to help him deal with his speck.

I don’t need to judge – that is God’s job. My job it to love and help my brother get his life sorted out, and do it in humility because I may be the next one who needs my brother’s help.