Sunday in class we talked about the tongue. It was an interesting class, but I will get to that. We looked at several passages about the tongue. Lets look at two.
James 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
This passage stands out so much to me because of how it ends. It is interesting to me that James says our religion is worthless if we don’t control our tongue. The New King James says useless in stead of worthless. James is stomping on toes here. People like to say mean things because it make us feel better about ourselves. If you don’t believe me search your heart and you will see that I am right. Now look at what James says in Chapter 3.
James 3:3-12 3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
I really like the powerful words James uses. The tongue is a fire, a world of evil, it corrupts the whole person, it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison, it is set on fire by hell. James is not sugar coating it. The tongue is a powerful tool that can be used for good or bad. Just like the rudder of the ship, the tongue steers the body. Think of all the trouble people have been into because they couldn’t keep their mouth shut. Think of all the times you have been in trouble because you have not kept your mouth shut. Like the rudder, the tongue can do good and bad. We can get ourselves in trouble, but we can also get ourselves out of trouble. We can serve God or we can make him look bad. I know this is not easy, but we can do it with God.
This brings me to the why I said the class was interesting. During the class, the teens looked at me as if they were thinking, “but how do we do that.” This is a good and tough question. You have to start small. I had a problem with cursing in High School. I was able to stop pretty easily, but I didn’t stop thinking those words. That was a different story. It took time and I had to choose to reprogram my thinking. I stopped being around people who use those words and I stopped allowing my self to think them. I chose to use different words and most importantly I asked God for help.
Sometime, we need to just not say anything. If you can’t control your tongue start small. Simply saying nothing is a start. It will not be easy and it may take time, but with God’s help you can overcome ANYTHING.
