Don’t speak evil against each other ...

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Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor? -James 4:11-12 NLT

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Isn't it interesting how we sometimes judge each other using a rule or law of some sort? When a person does something we do not like we label them and judge them to be one thing or another. From a certain perspective this kind of judging might seem righteous. That is until you realize that the law that Jesus speaks of is the one that commands us to love God and the people that he has created. When it comes to judging others the law of love trumps all others!

I find it interesting how James writes of speaking evil against each other in the context of judging. Years ago a friend told me that we should not judge but we should inspect spiritual fruit. Hard to believe how some justify their actions. I do think that it is difficult to judge actions as evil, as James does here, without judging a person's heart as evil. But that is what we are called to do. Only God knows a person's heart and only He is qualified to make any judgment about it.

Lord, help us to not judge each. Teach us to love the way that you love..

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