James 5:9

NIV: Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

The Message: Friends, don't complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner.

It is clear we are living in the End times, that it will not be long before Jesus returns.  It may be in my lifetime, then again, it may not .  After all, as Peter says, "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day" (2 Petere3:8, NIV).   But whenever that day may be, are we really living as if it could happen today, tomorrow, next week?

It is so easy to be in the world, to behave like everyone else, to get so engrossed with the daily routine, breakfast, school run, work, and so on.  The routine may be different for each one of us, but in reality, do we give God a thought during the day?  Does our behaviour reflect the fact that we are Christians? Do we demonstrate the love of Christ by our thoughts, our words, our deeds?  Are our lives so very different from those who are not believers?  Do we stand out, stand up, make a difference?

Very often, probably nearly all of the time, I fear my life is no different from those who do not even believe in God.  Life can be so busy, hectic with one demand after another on my time and never enough hours in the day to get everything done.  It is so easy to become engrossed in the world, noting every word, every action of others and pulling apart their motives, their reasons for whatever they do.  We can get so wrapped up in our own world, our own worries and problems, we don't notice when others are hurting.   Even worse, we can misconstrue what someone has said or done (or even picking on the things they have not said or done) and imagine they are criticising us, laughing at us, not doing their fair share of the work. 

But one thing I have come to realise with time is that God never does leave is.  He is always, always by our side, even when it seems He is further away than ever before.  He is watching, listening, seeing all things, noticing even the snide remarks we utter under our breath or even say in our minds but never speak.  He knows when we find fault with others.  He knows when we criticise others (even silently), when we sit and feel sorry for ourselves, thinking the world and his neighbour are against us.  He see all things, and knows all things.  He knows the right and wrong of each and every situation, and He knows why people say or do whatever it may be that has upset us.

How can we judge others for the casual remark they made that hit us to the core, when we may not know that they are struggling to cope with a parent with dementia, that they have just lost their family dog, that their home is about to be repossessed, that a close friend or family member has just been diagnosed with cancer?  As a result, they came out with that thoughtless remark because their mind was concentrating on what was happening in their life.  What about the times when we feel that everything falls on our shoulders, all the time, and there is no one prepared to help.  They are all a lazy bunch of self centred, idle.... Well, I am sure you can fill in the missing words!

When we grumble about others, when we moan about what they have or have not done or said, we become bitter, twisted, especially if that is all we focus on.  I know the times when things have gone on here, and I feel hard done to, put upon, taken for granted.  It is so easy to start criticising others, even if it is only in my own mind and then I start feeling sorry for myself, even begin to feel like a martyr, with everyone against me.  Then the hurt begins to solidify and I end up losing my temper, being cross and crabby for no apparent reason.

So James tell us to watch out, to not grumble against one another, because that is the start of the slippery slope,  when we listen to the lies of the enemy, twisting everything, and he drags us further and further down the path that takes us away from God.

1 Peter 5:8 Be self- controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (NIV)

We need to always be alert, always be on guard because the devil is out to get each and every one of us.  This might sound a bit drastic, unlikely, after all, why would he bother with you and I?  He bothers because God loves us, and the devil does not want that.  He wants us to suffer the same fate as he will, being cast into the lake of eternal fire and he is determined to take as many of us as possible down there with him.

When we judge others , when we criticise them for doing something that we know is a sin, when we pull them to pieces either to their faces or behind their backs, aren't we doing something that only God has the right to do?  What gives us the right to judge and condemn others?  What makes us so superior, so "holier than thou", that we can criticise others for doing the very same things we do ourselves?

We need to treat others as would wish to be treated ourselves, to demonstrate the love of Jesus by all we do and say.  Not always easy when someone comes out with a side remark when all you have done is say "hi".  But if we retaliate in kind, if we give as good as we get, then we will be judged ourselves, because Jesus is there at the door, watching, and He will judge each one of us. 

I don't know about you, but I would far rather hear Him say "well done thou good and faithful servant" than "get thee behind me Satan" and proceed to go through each and every time I have done or said something unkind and cruel, and the times I have not done or said something I should have done.