James 2: 1 Don't be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. 2 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. 3 A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. 4 A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. 5 A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything - or destroy it! 6 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. 7 This is scary: You can tame a tiger, 8 but you can't tame a tongue - it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. 9 With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. 10 Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! 11 A spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? 12 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 Message)
It was difficult choosing the picture for this morning's Bible verse. I had one of my youngest grandson with a pacifier in his mouth and I had this one of our granddaughter with evidence of blue candy. The pacifier shows how a tongue can be truly controlled; a baby is hungry or restless and if the baby accepts it, it allows for them to calm down and await his or her feeding. Blue candy leaves evidence. Our words also leave evidence sad to say. Some evidence shows the presence of God's Spirit in our lives. Some evidence we wish would be sent to the bottom of the sea. James knew that and so instructs his readers that to be a Christian is a difficult thing and to try and be a Christian teacher is even harder. I don't think he was trying to get people to not be teachers, but to say if you're going to be a teacher what you say outside of your Sunday school room may be remembered way longer than what was said inside. The comparisons James makes to the tongue are true; a bit in a horse's mouth, the rudder of a huge ship, all control the direction of that which they guide, but a misspoken word can destroy relationships, marriages, churches, or people. James knows that we use our tongues to bless God and with the same tongue curse God's creatures made in God's image. Can, should, curses and blessings come out of the same mouth?
A mouth guided by prayer and reflection is a mouth that springs forth life and carefully crafted thoughts of praise and comfort. A mouth guided by a heart that listens to God will bring life.
PRAYER: Lord, I seek a heart that is blessed and nourished by You so that I may bless and nourish others with my words. Help me to build instead of destroy, to fan flames of holiness rather than quench and kill. I ask these things in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
