harmony. You put it in any sen tence and no matter how nice the sentence started out it comes to a grinding halt. You have groused it up. It is a mean word. You cannot make anything pretty out of it at all. We speak of 'carrying a grudge' but we do not carry it actually. We sort of wallow in a 'grudge-sludge/ picking our feet up with ugly suck ing sounds and putting them down again in the ooze. Yeaauk! Now grudges must be nourished if they are to stay alive. We must water them with our tears or they will shrivel and die. If we are practiced 'grudge collectors' we are hardly out of bed in the morning before we start running over our favorite grudges. The idea is never to skip any one of them or it is liable to become smaller and we would cer tainly not want to part with a single one. For every grudge kept nour ished and alive and healthy helps to keep our image of ourselves in tact. And implicit in this little ritual is retaliation. One way or another we would love to get even. It can range from out-and-out malice to just wanting to get this thing re solved. Of course, in some way so that we will come out 'smelling like a rose'." Here the Apostle is saying, "Grudge not brethren, one against another." There are certain times when we feel like giving vent to all of our feelings. Now we may not actually speak the way we feel, ar ticulating so many words, but the attitude is still there within our hearts. And that can be just as dev astating and destructive. How often do we say something about anoth er that is unkind and perhaps even untrue? Before we close this meditation,
notice again in verse nine of this fifth chapter of James that there is a very definite warning. It says, ". . . lest ye be condemned . . ." Now, the word for "condemned" here is the term "judged." The Apostle, speaking to believers, is not referring to that judgment which will befall all those who have rejected God's grace, revealed in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ. That is entirely different. What is in view here is known as the Bema judgment. This was the term used to refer to the review ing stand in the ancient Grecian athletic contests where the run ners were approved by those who were in authority. We need to keep in mind that as far as the Judgment Seat of Christ is concerned our sal vation is never in question nor is it in jeopardy. It is the believer's activities, his works, the things that he has done and said, as well as those which he has even thought, that will be reviewed before the Lord. Realize that this judgment could be a lot nearer than any of us fully appreciate. In light of that, would you be proud of some of the feelings you now hold or per haps have held? James says, "Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned." And, in the orig inal, it is as though he had under scored the personal pronoun be cause he is talking directly to each one of us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Oh, that we would really consider the gravity of that warning! The last part of this verse is a wonderful note of assurance. It re minds us that the Lord Himself stands at the door. We are living, I am convinced, on the brink of
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