Me and My Mouth
“But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” James 3:8-10
There is one thing about the writing of James–he didn’t beat around the bush, sugar coat, or go easy on those to whom he wrote (which includes you and me). How many times have I said something that I wished that I had not said? Many times. There’s no taking back words. Once they are out, they are like those unintelligible words that the father spoke in “A Christmas Story” to curse his old furnace–the words just hanging out there in space. When we say something that we realize that we shouldn’t have said, all the apologies and claims of “misspeaking” can never undo our unthoughtful comments. The words that come out of our mouths usually were sitting down in the recesses of our hearts just waiting for an opportune time to escape into the realm of conversation. Sometimes, though, words just “pop off the top of our heads”, and I am not sure where those words originated. I don’t think that they come out of nowhere, though. They were somewhere inside of us.
We have to weigh our words carefully before we utter them. We are prone to just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind without considering that it might not help but rather hinder the situation being discussed. An uncontrolled tongue is like a fire out of control burning everything in its path. Satan get great pleasure when our words cause misunderstandings, destruction, wars, and strife particularly among believers. Sin originates in the mind and then proceeds to carry out its intention by the tongue, which can poison the entire body. It can poison relationships. Fire burns whatever it touches, and the tongue, uncontrolled, can be the match that lights the flame.
When God made the world and man, He gave man dominion over the fish, the fowls of the air, and over every living thing on earth (Genesis 1:28), but man can’t seem to have dominion over his tongue. I suppose it would be easier to train a rattlesnake than train one’s tongue to behave. Even the most committed and careful believer will use his or her tongue in ways that are hurtful and prideful. They may be able to control their bodies against sinful acts of sex, theft, and murder, but the words that they use may defy their outward show of walking the “straight and narrow”. The only sure place that we can successfully control our tongues is in the grave–“dead men tell no tales”.
The tongue reveals what’s in our hearts. If we praise God in one moment, and the next we are cursing or disparaging a fellow human who was made in God’s image, how can we reconcile these two opposing actions? That type of behavior shows us to be rather hypocritical. How can we expect God to receive our praise when it comes from a divided tongue? Our commitment to the Lord is supposed to be a one-way street with no veering off the path of righteousness onto paths of criticism and judgmental attitudes toward others whom God created. The tongue that blesses should not be one that curses. If we say we are a Christian, then our words should back up what we claim to be.
Not only do we need to watch what we say, but how we say it. A sentence can have a completely different meaning depending on how it is spoken. For example, if I asked someone, “Is that the outfit that you have chosen to wear?” as just an inquiry, which sounds nonjudgmental as opposed to, “Is THAT the outfit you have chosen to wear?” which sounds like an insult. Sometimes we say things that come out the wrong way, and the person to whom we are speaking might be offended. I supposed that if we really stopped to think about everything we say, we probably wouldn’t say so much. Jesus said in Matthew 5:37 to “let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” That makes sense because sometimes when we keep on talking, we just dig ourselves a hole that is difficult to climb out of. Remember what your mama said, “If you can’t say something nice about a person, then don’t say anything at all.” That’s good advice.