Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: James 5 and Psalm 42

⁹ Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

You would think that this would be a very simple command to obey, wouldn’t you? Everyone inside the Church of Jesus Christ gets on really well with one another without any hitch whatsoever because we all love Jesus, right? Well … not so much.

James wrote to Christians who had been hard-pressed and even scattered by persecution. They were enduring a tremendous amount of suffering for their faith and Paul wrote, in large part, to encourage them to persevere patiently (e.g. v.10). One would expect that this kind of pressure from the outside would have led to even closer relationships between the believers as they stood together in solidarity against their persecutors. Yet Paul found it necessary to exhort even these highly committed Christians not to grumble against one another!

I think that their problem and ours is in large part due to the role of our spiritual enemy, the devil. The devil’s tactic has always been to “divide and conquer”. He pulled that trick first on Adam and Eve, dividing them from God and then from each other! The Greek word for “devil” is diabolos from “dia” (through) and “ballo” (throw). His nature is always to “throw between” and to cause division.

So James warned his first readers (and he warns us today) that grumbling and complaining and arguing with one another plays into the hands of the devilish forces of division and brings delight to the Evil One. Our responsibility is to live in ways that please our Lord Jesus Christ, who is constantly present – not only as our Judge (as James points out) but also as our mutual Saviour and Lord. And Jesus is greatly pleased when His Family stands united in love and prayer.

Life Application: Let’s not disappoint the One who gave His own life to save us and make us His Family. Lets love each other sacrificially for His sake. Let’s do everything we can from our side to live at peace with our Family-in-Christ and, in so doing, please our Lord.