Words

             Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their 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 body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. (James 3:1-6)

              I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13)

 

            Some may think this passage is talking about our not using “bad language,” or perhaps not lying, but what James wrote about goes far beyond that. We don’t need our “French” excused. We need our tongues sanctified and put under control. Using foul language as an example, after someone said something, I responded, “Do I have to? Right here? Right now? In public?”

            The person gave me a blank stare as they tried to figure out what they said that would produce that response. They don’t even realize what has come out of their mouths.

            In college, I had a professor who said, “You know” so many times that I stopped listening to the content to count the occurrences. As I recall, it was an average of every thirty seconds, and one time immediately followed the previous: “You know…you know….”

            In Toastmasters, one of the “rules” is to avoid using uh, ah, or um. Again, people don’t know how often they make those sounds. For me, the point wasn’t so much to never use them – but to use them deliberately, knowing that I was doing so and meaning to do so.

            Controlling our tongues is difficult, whether it is searing and cussing, lying, using words that have no meaning, putting ourselves or others down, speaking words of faithlessness or contradicting Scripture. As we prepare for 2023, what word(s) would you like to have God take out of your life? What word(s) would you like Him to put into your life?

            The word that comes to mind for me is “can’t.” There are many times that I might be right that I can’t, but God can, and I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.