James_3

SCRIPTURE

James 3:3-5

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or 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.

5 Likewise, 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.

 

OBSERVATION

James 2 shows “how unprofitable and dead faith is without works” and goes on to say that “such a faith is, however, apt to make men conceited and magisterial in their tempers and their talk. Those who set up faith in the manner the former chapter condemns are most apt to run into those sins of the tongue which this chapter condemns. And indeed the best need to be cautioned against a dictating, censorious, mischievous use of their tongues.”

 

UNDERSTANDING

There’s lots of great guidance in this chapter; but a majority can be summed up with...

Watch yo’ mouth!

• As Christians, we will be judged more strictly by what comes out of our mouths.
• The tongue, left unchecked, corrupts the whole body.
• The tongue is not easily tamed.
• Praising the Lord, while cursing those made in is likeness is a sign of an unchecked, untamed tongue.

It also requires us to acknowledge the power of the tongue. It’s small but mighty! And it can just as equally (though perhaps, not just as easily) be used for good!

It can be used to praise, to lift others up, to silence the lies of the enemy, to speak life into people and situations, to encourage, to give honor, to show love, to speak truth, to stand up for those that need it...

 

LIFE APPLICATION

Just like a great forest is set on fire by a small spark, we can use our tongues to set fire to all the good stuff today!  This requires a bridled or controlled tongue; there's two ways to bridle our tongue - watch our mouths and be controlled in what we allow to come out...but perhaps the greater or more powerful one is, to start with the heart.

 

Proverbs 4:23 - Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life.  

 

What comes out of our mouths is merely a outflow of what's in our heart.  

 

May we guard our hearts and use our tongues for all the good that God intended them for; let's blaze trails of kindness, truth, love, honor, encouragement everywhere we go today.

 

 

 

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