Read: James 3:3-12
“Now when we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide the whole animal. And consider ships: though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among the parts of our bodies; it pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell. For every creature – animal or bird, reptile or fish – is tamed and has been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things should not be this way. Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening? Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.”
Understand:
- Scripture says that the tongue is a “world of” what?
- What is one thing that man has not been able to tame?
Listen: I am not a quick-witted person. You know, the type of person who can come up with something witty to say in the blink of an eye? My youngest son is like that. We can be having a conversation and out of the blue he will come up with the funniest remark or one of the wisest remarks that really make you stop and think. Yet, he is also the type of person who knows when to hold his tongue. For example, there have been times when I go into momma mode and need to make a point to him, like when he was in high school and I was trying to teach him the benefits of not procrastinating on his homework. I’d get all ready to deliver a good lecture, even though I was frustrated that he had waited until the night before something was due to work on it. I’d begin by explaining that I didn’t think it was a good idea for him to wait until the last minute to do his homework and that he needs to work on becoming better about managing his time. In typical parent mode, I waited for him to tell me why he had waited. There had to be some profound reason he had done that, right? Instead of arguing with me, he would look at me and say. “You’re right. I know I should do that. I didn’t do my best because I waited too late.” Okay, what just happened? I literally remember stopping what I was doing and looking at him on multiple occasions when he did something like this and saying, “No wait. I have this long lesson to teach you. You can’t just agree with me.” What do you even say to that? Shouldn’t he be wanting to argue with me?
The point is, some people just have the knack for being witty, knowing what to say, when to say it, and knowing when to say nothing at all. I’m not like that. I’m good at keeping my mouth closed, for the most part, but I’m the type of person who will analyze the life out of a conversation and later think, “I should have said this.” I can come up with something after I have thought about it. There have been times when I really didn’t like this about myself because there were many times when someone said something nasty that should have been corrected and I didn’t do it. Mind you, this is when it happens to me. Now, if someone is being mean to someone else, like my kids, look out! It is as if my tongue has a mind of its own and regardless of the control I want to assert over it, it’s going to set someone straight and, sometimes, not in the best way. I don’t consider wanting to stand-up for others as wrong. We’re supposed to do that. It’s just that sometimes what comes out of my mouth probably shouldn’t have and then I feel guilty about it.
Our scripture today gives us insight on our tongue. It specifically says that it “is a fire”(verse 6) and can “pollute the whole body.” More specifically, it says it is “full of deadly poison”(verse 8). I’d like to be able to give you some amazing guidance on how to control your tongue, if you have a problem with that, but I can’t. It is something that I believe I will struggle with for the rest of my life but one thing I can say that has helped me is trying to practice what is in this verse: Psalm 119:11, “Thy word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against You.” I believe that we are told to read and remember God’s word for a lot of reasons, one of them being that it helps us to remember that we should be living our lives to glorify God. Don’t get me wrong, there have been plenty of times that I’ve said something yucky and afterwards thought, “Did that glorify God?” Knowing full well that it didn’t. Those moments are followed by repentance.
God doesn’t expect perfection. He knows us to well for that. Just remember, it’s easier to control ourselves when we put Him at the forefront of our lives. When His word comes into our mind because we have taken time to study and remember it, somehow we do find a way to tame our tongue and our actions, at least a little bit.
Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive us when we don’t exercise restraint and end up offending others and not bringing You glory. Help us study and remember Your word so we will have that guiding light to be better people. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
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