James 3:5-8

Passage

Behold how small of a fire can ignite how great a forest!  And the tongue is a fire.  The tongue brings about a world of unrighteousness in our members – that which defiles the whole body and that which sets ablaze the series of events in our existence and that which is being set ablaze by hell.  For every species of wild animal – and even the birds, reptiles, and sea creatures – is being brought under control and has been brought under control by the species of mankind.  But mankind is not powerful enough to bring the tongue under control.  It is an unstable evil, full of deadly poison.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

James continues to speak poorly of the tongue.  He calls it a fire – setting ablaze our entire lives!  I find that there is much truth to this as I grow older.  When I was young, I thought I had all the answers.  I believed that if I just talked long enough then I could change the world.  As I grow older, I realize that it is not my talking that will make a difference but my listening.  Timely words are likely to build up; untimely words are likely to set things in our life ablaze.  I need to bridle my tongue long enough to actually listen to the people around me before I can ever know what is right to say!

How does your tongue set things ablaze in your life?  How do you know when you have said too much?  How can you learn to speak only what you are called to speak so that you can minimize the fires started in your life?

Second Thought:

James also speaks of the tongue as an unstable evil, full of poison.  I think this instability is really one of the most dangerous aspects of our tongues.  So often I find myself speaking before I’ve thought – and to be honest I can’t trust my tongue’s filter!  The tongue doesn’t know what should and shouldn’t be said!  The tongue thinks everything should be said!  So I find myself giving praise to one person with the tongue and then turning around and cutting someone else down with the same tongue.  It cannot be trusted to say the right thing on its own.  It needs to be controlled and filtered lest its poison leach out into other areas of life.

Have you ever had a moment where you were speaking good words and then almost as if someone flipped a switch you were speaking poisonous words?  How does that feel knowing that both extremes come from the same place?  Why does this make the tongue so dangerous?  Why does this make the tongue unstable?

Third Thought:

James also gives us another interesting comparison.  James says that we as human beings have the ability to domesticate and train all kinds of animals – even animals that are unlike us in many ways.  Yet we cannot tame our own tongues.  It is interesting how little humanity has changed in 2,000 years!  We are still domesticating animals with relative ease and our tongues seem like they are getting even less domesticated by the year!  The times may change, the technology may certainly change.  But the human has not.  Our tongues are just as unyielding to our power as ever.

Why can’t we control our tongues?  Why do you think humanity has always struggled with controlling what we say?

Passage for Tomorrow: James 3:9-12