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James 3:1-12 Don't be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life. A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything - or destroy it! A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue - it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! A spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don't bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?
The old adage, "Sticks and stones may break my bone, but words can never hurt me!" is not true. It was meant to build up character and strength against things said against us, but words do hurt and can cut deep. You and I have mental scars of words said to us that we did not expect nor deserve, and cannot be easily erased. Jesus in a recent gospel lesson said it was not what went into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out. James takes this and expands on it by blaming the tongue. Comparing the tongue to the rudder of a large ship or the bit in the mouth of a horse, even saying, "By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell." James gets it right when he says in the next verse, "This is scary." Scary indeed. What James is saying is that we should watch what we say. We should be aware of the power of words and know that words can hurt and kill if we are not careful; we should seek to build up and heal with our words. We should use our words to bless God and bless others. There is far too much hurt in the world already, and we as believers in the God of love, should use our tongues to assist the work of the Kingdom here on the earth. As Jesus taught, we should have our hearts right with God, right with ourselves and right with others. We should fill our hearts, minds, and souls with the things of God so that we become blessers; people who bless others with life and hope, compassion and love.
The only way to tame a tongue is to tame your heart. Get your heart right with God, and your tongue will flow forth living waters for those who are thirsty.
PRAYER: Loving God, guide my heart to a deeper love of and from You. Let me be one who blesses others as I speak. Tame my heart and help me tame my tongue. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
