we deserve better from us…

now james in chapter 4 verse 11 continues in a practical way dealing with the how we are to relate to other people.  he says (msg), don’t bad-mouth each other, friends.  we are good people but we do this don’t we?  but why?

well one reason could be because we want to excuse our own faults.

romans 2.3 (msg),  you didn’t think,(that is usually the first problem) did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract GOD from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard?

we think by pointing our finger at somebody else, GOD is going to forget what we’ve done.  or when you point out how somebody else has fallen then you don’t look so bad.  we use it as an excuse to blame others.  we love to accuse others and excuse ourselves.

how do we do that?  how do we excuse our sins?  we do that by relabeling them… “i’m not a gossip, i’m just sharing a concern,” “i’m not lazy, i’m just mellow,” “i’m not negative, i’m realistic,” “i’m not unreliable, i’m flexible.”  we have different terminology.  we excuse our sins by relabeling them.  “i’m not critical, i’m discerning.”  we all do that.

james says here, let’s stop bad-mouthing each other or as the new international version translates it, do not slander one another.  let’s start thinking about what we are doing.  people deserve better from us and we deserve better from us.

just another thought from the front porch…