Image from gospeldads.com
Listen to the devotional here: https://bit.ly/3tlYcoh
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? (James 3;1-12 The Message Bible)
Happy, tremendous Tuesday, ConCafe Family! And may you, dear Friend, awaken to the splendors of faith all around you today! I am thankful to the Lord to report the surgery on my aunt, Aurora Meza, went well. May we pray that her recovery and healing be swift and complete. May we also remember the family of Gonzales County Sheriff, Robert Ynclan, who died on Sunday from Covid. May God's comfort be with his family. Also, prayers for a dear sister in Christ, Ms. Bonnie Blayney of San Antonio is having surgery on her left femur. May all go well and may her recovery be speedy and as pain-free as possible. Also, prayers for Ms. Lea Ann Wyant, who is in ICU also battling Covid; may God heal her and deliver her from this dreaded disease. LATE REQUEST: Prayers for our grandson, Eli Muñoz, who has a high fever. He arrived in Houston with that fever. Pray for his healing! Thank you for your prayers! May God's blessings and protections be with you and yours.
There are two main themes in this passage, dear ones. The first is the seriousness of being a teacher. In older versions, it clearly says that teachers are held to higher and stricter standards. And this of course applies to any teacher, but those who would undertake the awesomeness of teaching God's word should heed that advice closely. I've shared how our oldest when we had been in a new church for only a few weeks, suddenly developed stomachaches and other maladies and did not want to go to Sunday school any more. When Nellie quizzed her about it, it was revealed that her teacher, who was not a fan of mine, used the hour lesson to criticize my sermons and ministry. I still feel more sadness than anger that a person could honestly take the hour of sacred teaching time and waste it on making someone else look bad. I can find nothing Christian or even sane about that. I remember not wanting my Sunday school classes to end when the teacher was truly gifted and passionate about what s/he was teaching. The other theme, and closely related to this is how the tongue can be easily uncontrollable and used for anything other than building up the Body of Christ. James compares the need to tame it to a bit in a horse's mouth or the rudder on a ship; and how a tongue, when used improperly destroy lives, careers, reputations, etc. We should use our tongues for good, like blessing God our Father, instead of cursing the very men and women God made in His image. For James, and it should be for us as well, unbelievable to think that out of the same mouth can come curses and blessings! In Spanish we used to ask, or be asked, "¿Con esa boca comes?" (You eat with that mouth?), meaning how can you put good food in your mouth when you use it like a potty? Be like the spring that gushes forth pure water all the time! And let our mouths spew forth only life, and life-affirming words.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help us stop the awful practice of using our mouths to spew forth praises and curses. May our lips, mouths, and tongues be instruments of praise and life. May we build up the Body of Christ with words of hope, peace, and joy. This we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Use you mouth to bless five different people with the most awesome, life-giving thoughts you can share with them today!
Receive my blessings of joy and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
