The Power of the Tongue

Today I'm linking up with the Good Morning Girls in Women in the Word Wednesdays as we continue our study on the book of James.



http://www.goodmorninggirls.org/




This week we began Chapter 3 of the Book of James. Once again, St James is warning us about the power of our tongues. Of particular note, for me anyway, was this :

James 3:2 "For we all trip up in many ways. Someone who does not trip up in speech has reached perfection and is able to keep the whole body on a tight rein"

Wow, that blew me away! So, if we can control our tongues it means we have achieved perfect self-control in all other areas of our lives? Well, no wonder I'm still struggling! When I quoted this piece of scripture to my daughter and told her that our challenge this week was to guard our mouths, she said "Well, you have a problem then". I chastised her for her rudeness and then laughed with her because I'm humble enough to know that she's right.

I still have trouble keeping my big mouth shut. I still quarrel on the roads, I still find myself too quick to say something critical. Ah, but as one of my blogger friends so eloquently put it recently, His Grace is poured out fresh every day! Read Traci Michele's blog here: http://ordinaryinspirations.blogspot.com/2011/02/for-when-your-day-begin-with-failure.htmld

How wonderful to know that I start off fresh with Him. As I shared with her, my mother once wrote to me words something like this (forgive me, I can't remember them exactly) "Your life is like a field of spotless snow, be careful how you tread it, for every mark will show"

Each day we get up is like a fresh snowfall in our lives, each time we confess our sin, Jesus comes along and wipes it clean. We plod along, we make mistakes, we say the wrong things, we offend other people's ears with our quarreling or we snap at them in impatience and our gentle Jesus looks sadly on us and waits for us to come to our senses.

St James tells us that our tongues are like the smallest flame that can set fire to a huge forest. Can you imagine that.. a runaway tongue can cause destruction of such great magnitude, that it is likened to a fire from hell that sets fire to all of creation! He says that many wild animals can be tamed James 3:8 "but nobody can tame the tongue - it is a pest that will not keep still, full of deadly poison".

Oh and horror of horrors, our hypocrisy is brought to light in James3:9-10 "We use it to bless the Lord and Father, but we also use it to curse people who are made in God's image: the blessing and curse come out of the same mouth. My brothers this must be wrong" He goes further to ask if water that is both fresh and salt can come out of the same pipe, if a fig tree can yield olives.

This reminds of me of scripture that says:

Matt 6:24 "No one can serve two masters..." Even though this quotation is used in the context of God vs money. I believe it is God vs anything worldly, including our own sinfulness. We cannot profess to be serving God and use our tongues as vicious weapons.

This new digging into the Word has all made me want to try even harder to control this tongue of mine. I'm happy to say that since I began this bible study, I'm learning more and more to think before I speak. Oh, I still have those wild, crazy, stress-induced rants... a poor excuse I know...I'm working on it!

I'm ending with the beginning, because I saved the best for last ;-). We are warned in
James 3:1 "Only a few of you, my brothers, should be teachers, bearing in mind that we shall receive a stricter judgment". What does this mean? Well, I believe that it means that because we have been brought to the truth in the Word about our actions, we will be held accountable, far more than the person who is not aware of the Truth.

So, we have no excuse to continue in our behaviour. We must hold ourselves accountable for every word that comes out of our mouths because we KNOW that we are sinning.

Heavenly Father, I pray for the strength, discipline and perseverance to continue to try to control my tongue, to do all that is pleasing to you. I pray that you bless my friends in cyberspace and help them with all their own trials and temptations and to continue to persevere in this walk that you have brought us all to. Thank you for your many graces and blessings. May we be your lights in this world, so full of darkness. Amen

May God's graces and blessings be with you all and may you shine brightly for Jesus

Love & Blessings
Lisa