Who made you judge?

 

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

 

We are all very good at judging others. We are so quick to look at the flaws and failures and weaknesses of others and quick to pass judgement and condemnation. It’s easy when it is somebody else.

 

But we need to be very very careful about passing judgement on others. Jesus warned against it and here James writes almost the exact same words.

 

James prefaced his statement with these words, ‘don’t speak evil of others.’ That’s where we too often start messing up. When we speak evil we set ourselves up as judges. We say that we are so good that we can judge them and speak judgement.

 

When we judge others we have to ignore our own sins. We try to make ourselves look good by making others look bad. Sadly that has become part and parcel of modern society. Even more sadly Christians have joined right in.

 

What does that do to the cause of Christ? What does that do to our witness? If We set ourselves up as judges over others what must others think about us? How arrogant can we be? Where is the spirit of humility?

 

Indeed, who do we think we are to judge others? I have enough issues to deal with. Let me get that sorted first.