When was the last time something you said got you in trouble?
Most of us don’t need long-term memories to come up with an answer
to that one. How easy it is to say things that are insensitive and
hurtful to others, things that we often wish we could take back
almost as soon as we say them.
When was the last time something you said got you in trouble? Most of us don’t need long-term memories to come up with an answer to that one. How easy it is to say things that are insensitive and hurtful to others, things that we often wish we could take back almost as soon as we say them.
The Bible says we are to speak words that build one another up rather than tear one another down. For the next couple of weeks we will take a hard look at one of life’s greatest challenges: how to control our tongue.
In the New Testament book of James, God gives us some great insight on how to watch our words. He starts with the observation that while my tongue is small, it is powerful. He offers three illustrations in support of this fact, each example larger than the previous one: “We can make a large horse turn around and go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a tiny rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot wants it to go, even though the winds are strong. So also, the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself” (3:3-6).
This leads James to a second observation: my tongue can destroy what I have. Have you ever seen your tongue be destructive? Ever had it destroy a relationship with someone you loved? Your mate … a child … a parent … a friend? Like a fire out of control, our tongue can bring disaster. It can come in the hurtful words of an enraged father (I’ve been that father); it can come in the cruel words of a husband to his wife (I’ve been that husband); it can come in the insensitive words of a child to his parent (I’ve been that child). In verse 6, James identifies the source of such words as “Gehenna” (translated “hell,” and, historically, a garbage dump near Jerusalem). That’s a fitting description of what hurtful words are: garbage.
Many of us know this first hand; someone said something that hurt us many years ago, yet we remember every word and gesture like it was yesterday. That’s the power of words. Notice verses 7-8, “People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison.” How interesting. We’ve got Trigger, Lassie, Benjie, Clyde the Orangutan, Shamu, Flipper … we tame lions, tigers, bears, snakes, all kinds of birds … I even rode an elephant once! Imagine, we can tame the largest of all beasts, but we can’t tame our tongues.
Verse 8 says our words can be like a deadly poison that will permeate our entire life. Are you willing to apply this truth to yourself? Some of you who are reading this article have unknowingly allowed your tongue to push your mate and kids far away from you. I do not say this with a spirit of condemnation, but with a spirit of understanding. I’ve been there; I’ve done that. Some of you are gossips: you are destroying relationships and yourself by spreading hurtful garbage. Again, I say this not with a spirit of condemnation, but with a spirit of understanding. I’ve been there, done that.
James wants us to ask ourselves some hard questions: “If I say I believe like I should, why do I act the way I do? If I say Jesus Christ is my Lord, why do such venomous words come from my lips?” It’s just not consistent. It is this final observation that we will focus on next week.
