The Toughest Assignment Yet

Scripture – James 4:11-12: ¹¹Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Observation – (Write down what you see in the scripture.) Well, this certainly hits close to home. Now James is moving into my most personal conversations. “Slander” is a hard word. But “complaining” about people seems different. It’s easy to gather friends around and complain about someone. At the same time, in doing that I really am slandering them. I easily move beyond complaining about what they’ve done to judging who they are.

Application – (Write how you will be different today because of what you have just read.) James is beginning to really bug me. I’d love to skip over this passage and move on like always. Yet I am reminded (again) that Christ-like living comes from the inside out. So, I’ll be careful about how I talk about people today. I’ll at least confine any complaints to behavior, not being.

Prayer – (Write out a brief prayer.) Lord, I simply cannot address this without you. Keep me mindful of my language and especially my thoughts today. Keep me aware of you trying to live through me. Somehow, Lord, cut through my resistance and do that.