We’ve all known someone like this: the person who seems to take special joy in pointing out everyone else’s flaws. Maybe you remember them from the schoolyard—the one who mocked the overweight kid, the short kid, the one wearing discount-store sneakers, or the one whose parents drove a rusty old beater because that’s all they could afford.

Fast forward to adulthood, and they haven’t changed much. Maybe now they’re the coworker who always finds something to gripe about: management, teammates, company policy. Nothing escapes their criticism. They carry themselves as though they’ve never made a mistake, while constantly highlighting everyone else’s.

We see this kind of behavior everywhere. But while it might be sadly common in the world, there’s one place where it should have no home: the Church.

Christ’s Church—the very body He “gave Himself up for” (Ephesians 5:25)—should never be reduced to just another target under someone’s flaw-finding magnifying glass. Yes, the Church is made up of imperfect people. Yes, someone will eventually say something wrong, rub you the wrong way, or even sin against you. But if your closest brush with joy is found in the faults of others, then the real problem might not be them—it might be your own heart.

Have you forgotten the grace Christ showed on the cruel cross of Calvary? Has the ministry of reconciliation He entrusted to His people become so dull and insignificant in your eyes that sowing discord seems more appealing (2 Corinthians 5:18–19)?

If so, you may be teetering dangerously close to the group Jude warned about—those who “cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit” (Jude 1:19).

As believers, we are called to reflect our Savior, who is full of redeeming love—a love that “covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). And let’s not forget the sobering reminder of 1 John 1:8: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” None of us are without fault.

And yet, those who walk in bitterness rarely keep it to themselves. The King James Version calls them “backbiters”—a term echoed in Proverbs 25:23, where the Hebrew literally refers to “secret, divisive words.” Proverbs 16:28 is just as clear: “A whisperer separates close companions.” The New Testament doesn’t go easier—Romans 1:29 includes backbiters in the same breath as murderers.

Let that sink in.

So before pointing out the speck in your brother’s eye, be sure to examine your own heart (Matthew 7:3). Because if criticism and division have become your favorite tools, you may have wandered far from the grace that once saved you—and the love that was meant to define you, or haven’t really experienced that grace at all…