Life Got Your Tongue?
I don't know about you, but there are many times where I feel like my life is running beyond my control. But is it really completely out of my control? In reading my Bible, I am constantly coming across reminders that we have a few powerful tools and weapons at our disposal that can either be used constructively or disastrously. I've been meditating on and writing about James 3 a lot lately and believe that I have some encouragement from Jesus for you. Here's a fantastic paragraph from the 3rd chapter of James' letter:
"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things." - James 3:1-5a ESV
It may seem strange to you – it still seems strange to me – that our tongues would have such power. Why doesn’t James focus on our thoughts and intentions rather than our tongues? Aren’t our hearts and minds the driving forces behind all of our actions and words? This is certainly true, but God has divinely ordained that the firing of synapses and the physical movement of jaw muscle, tongue and vocal cord have the same sort of power that God’s words have. After all, we were created in his image. The words of God – not merely his thoughts and emotions – were what brought the world into existence and formed vegetation, animals, humans and everything else that we see and cannot see (Genesis 1-2). It was the word of God that directed the path of Abraham and his descendants to their destiny through his spoken promises. It was the Word of God that put on skin, bone and muscle and lived among humanity in the person of Jesus.
So which is more important: Faith, actions or word? As we discovered in chapter two, merely saying we are saved doesn’t make us saved, so we know that words by themselves are not able to accomplish everything. However, we also learned that good intentions and thoughts do not accomplish anything on their own either. It is through the marriage of our will and our words that the power of both is unleashed. Like in the example of the horse, we must start moving in order to make our words effective, but if we simply go off in any direction with our words and intentions contradicting each other, we will fall flat. Likewise, if we speak many words without meaning them, we get nowhere and are just flailing around in one spot, yanking our bridle back and forth with no progress. We are far too casual with our words and desperately unaware of their power.
King David, the great song writer, warrior and poet, had an effective solution for controlling his tongue: Intentional relationship with God. He called out to God saying, "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!" (Psalm 141:3 ESV). He knew that he had to control his tongue because of its great influence, and the only way he could do that with any consistency was to build his relationship with God. He opted not to do it on his own and he never demanded that God take care of the whole thing. He was forming a partnership in which he relied on God to provide help and then he followed through.
I'd like to challenge you to spend some time today evaluating where your words have been guiding your life and then ask God to give you strength to direct your life in the right direction through your words.