Last week we looked at some things that we should do for one another (encourage, forbear and forgive, serve, do good, and love).  This week I want to go in the opposite direction and look at some things that we should not do to one another.  Let us begin with not speaking evil against one another.

James 4:11 (ESV)
¹¹  Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

While James does refer to the law of Moses in this epistle, most commentators agree that here he is referring to the law of Christ.  So, the law of Christ, and specifically, the law that demands that we love one another (1 John 3:11; 4:7, 11), forbids us from speaking against each other in Christ.  James has a lot to say about misusing the tongue.

James 3:6-10 (ESV)
⁶  And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. ⁷  For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸  but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 

So does Paul.

Ephesians 4:29 (ESV)
²⁹  Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Only the devil benefits when we turn on each other and speak evil against one another.  The cause of Christ suffers when we do so.  Being a spiritual family, something that Jesus deemed more important than biological ties (Matthew 12:46-50), we should stand together with one mind, striving side by side for the faith (Philippians 1:27), not doing the devil’s bidding by bad-mouthing and back-biting one another in Christ.

Let us allow love to prevail and avoid misuse of the tongue, especially when it comes to how we speak about brothers and sisters in Christ.  Yes, there will be moments of disagreements, disappointments, disapproval, and displeasure toward one another, but that is not unusual when it comes to family.  What we must not do is give the devil an advantage by turning on each other, and that is exactly what we are doing when we speak evil against one another.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things