Thursday, August 21, 2008
James 4:11-14
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, 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 only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (ESV)
by Leota Stevens
Okay, we are back to that controlling the tongue thing again. I think God is really concerned about this issue because it just doesn’t go away! Some pretty serious space in the Bible has been devoted to the effect of the words we speak to others. James makes it crystal clear that speaking evil of a brother puts us in direct conflict with the Law of God and sets us up as a judge. What qualifications do we possess that allows us to hold that position? Were we appointed by God (or self-promoted) into the judiciary? If the latter, we best tend our resignation immediately.
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2008, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service .
