Criticizing

James 4: 11-12 

(11) Do not speak against one another, brethren. 

One who talks about another is a gossip! James is telling his hearers to stop criticizing one another.

He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the Law and judges the Law; but if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge of it.

The Law here probably refers to the command in Leviticus 19: 18; "Love your neighbor as yourself." To speak against your neighbor is to violate this law. The person who does this places himself above the law and, by his action, declares that rule to be bad or unnecessary, rather than submitting to it and keeping it. Instead, he's passing judgment on its validity and sets it aside.

(12) There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? 

The only One who has the authority to give laws and to judge according to those laws, and is able to either save or destroy people according to the laws, is God alone. 

So if you are judging people, pointing out their defects and faults, who do you think you are? Do you think that you have that authority over another person? Are you the master over that person, his or her owner? 

God is the owner of us all, Jesus bought all of us for the price of His blood poured out at the foot of His altar, the cross. We do not own people, especially our brothers and sisters in the Lord. 

We have no right or authority to criticize someone else's servant. I am not to enter my neighbor's house and tell her how to clean her home or what her children should wear to school! She is responsible for these things, and she is not accountable to me! 

This is what we're doing when we gossip. We are putting ourselves into the place of the Lord, declaring ourselves their lord, usurping God's authority! 

O my Father, please help us to realize the seriousness of this wagging of our tongues against one another! Only You are God, we are not. Only Your Son is Lord, as You have placed the Lordship and responsibility over all Creation into His hands. 

Father, teach us how to love one another, as we love ourselves. Show us how we want to be talked about, and speak of others in that vein. And help us to love one another as You have loved us, even when we don't approve of them. 

Even when we think they are wrong, and are harming themselves and others, let us realize that they are accountable to only You, and help them to understand their errors with respect and gentleness. Father, we cannot do this without Your Holy Spirit in us. 

My Father, strengthen us in Your power, to love one another, and to show the world how much You Love us all, to draw all Your embryonic children to the birth into Your family. Grow us up into the maturity of the full stature of the Son of God. Fill Your magnificent house with all of Your uncountable family, surrounding Your great banquet table to enjoy sweet fellowship forever with You. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!