October 23, 2012 – Day 16 – James 4:8-12

⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. ¹¹ Brothers, 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. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? ^[1]

In these two verses James seems to pause in his indictment of the group to which he is writing, but only for a moment. Almost as if he realizes how condemning his words have been he offers hope in the midst of them. The actions of which they are guilty have taken them away from God but God did not move. They need only draw near to God and discover that He is there with them. They have been double-minded sinners but can rectify their estate by consciously changing, shifting their position, and humbling themselves before the Lord. Then just as suddenly as he pauses he returns to his admonition.

These are verses that revisionists love to take out of context. James’ admonition is not about judging but against slander. The community to which he was writing seemed to have a variety of moral and ethical issues. They were guilty of unguarded speech, ungodly wisdom, pursuing inordinate desire, harboring bitterness toward one another and now slander. It appears that there was a lot of spiritual pride running havoc among them. If James did not use the word slander, one might be able to make an argument that James condemns believers ever judging anyone. But the word slander cancels such an assertion. To slander here is to tell tales, to give an evil report, to defame someone. Clearly it is the motivation of the slanderer that is in question. Such a person puts himself or herself on shaky ground, demonstrates their own sin, and has no right to judge anyone.

Should Christians judge? We make judgments all the time. We cannot exercise discernment without making them. But what is the motivation? Is it to tear someone down so we can look better in contrast, or is it to walk righteously before the Lord, and in the process, build up the body of Christ? Perhaps our motivation will be unimpeachable if we focus our energies on getting into the presence of the Lord, “Come near to God and He will come near to you.”

Lord, our hands are not clean, yet we judge others around us as if they are. We confess how easily we participate in the assassination of someone’s character based upon erroneous information. We confess that we have been quick to perpetuate the report rather than stopping it all the while knowing our own secret sin that is ever before us. Forgive us of our false righteousness, of our pride and arrogance. Enable us to come boldly before Your throne of grace and receive mercy in our time of trouble, and then allow to show mercy to those around us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.