Our next passage from the book of James is a well known piece that is very relevant. “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 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. 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. The 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.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and bitter water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water,” (James 3:1-12).
One of the first things James mentioned here is that we all stumble in many ways. The real question is whether we are aware of our stumbling by means of our tongue, or have gossip, criticism and cursing one another become such a natural part of our lives that we do not even notice it anymore. What is the first thing we want to do when we get home after someone has offended us at work? We want to tell our spouse and friends and then tear that person apart, don’t we? If someone offends or humiliates us, what is the first that comes from our mouth? Isn’t it self-defence of a very creative nature, since we need to improve on that person’s verbal skills? Verbal reaction in whichever form is a temptation to sin and like any other temptation should be resisted by the power of God (1 Corinthians 10:13) through living in submission to Him (James 4:7).
There is an idiom saying that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’, but we know that this is not true. Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22:”‘You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ [Aramaic term for contempt] is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.’”
Words hurt and kill. Gossip is destructive for it forms a false opinion of a person in people’s minds. Have you ever been introduced to an individual through gossip and formed an opinion of such a person and then afterwards met them for the first time? I bet the impressions you had on both occasions were completely different. A pastor once was bad-mouthed by a lady all over town, creating a bad impression of him amongst the people. He called her in and gave her a hand full of feathers and told her to place them on certain open air places in town. When she returned he told her to go and collect all the feathers.
‘I will never find them Pastor,’ she said. ‘They will be blown all over.’
‘That’s exactly what happens when you gossip,’ he said. ‘You can’t retrieve what you have said, for gossip spreads like a fire.’
Criticism, contempt, humiliating remarks and so on damages the soul. It causes the victim to feel inferior, rejected and insecure. Gossip damages people’s impressions of others. It is so easy to fall for these and therefore we need to make a decision to submit to God and shut our mouth, resisting the temptation to speak out of turn.
We will look at the ‘how to’ in the next message.
Lord, help me to be aware of what I say.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.
No comments:
Post a Comment