Mind your tongue!

Watch what you say!  Control your tongue!  Least said, soonest mended!

Wise words taken from catch phases used in today's society.

And, back in 950 BC Solomon was also warning people about the significant impact that the tongue had upon the health and well-being of others:-

Proverbs 10: 8 & 11: ''The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prattling [babbling] fool shall fall [be ruined].  The mouth of the righteous man is a well of life: but the violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.''

Life giving words come from a heart right with God and violent words come from one that isn't.

Proverbs 16: 27 & 28; ''An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.  A forward [perverse] man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief [best of] friends.''

 

Proverbs 18: 7 & 8; ''A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.  The words of a talebearer [gossip or slanderer] are as wounds [tasty morsels] and they go down into the inner most parts [chambers] of the belly.''

Gossip destroys friendships and inflicts internal wounds!

James a half brother of Jesus, who grew up in a carpenter's home in Nazareth and was a leader of the early church in Jerusalem warned people of the dangerous and destructive nature of the tongue - just as Solomon had done some 1000 years before:

James 3: 2; ''For in many things we offend [stumble] all.  If any man offend [stumble] not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.''

Or, using the translation from the original as per the Amplified Bible:

James 3: 2; ''For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things.  And if anyone does not offend in speech [never says the wrong things], he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and curb his entire nature.''

James continues to use metaphors to teach us of the vagaries of the tongue:

James 3: 3, 4 & 5a; ''Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.  Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm [rudder], whithersoever the governor [pilot] listeth [wants].  Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things.''

Both these illustrations in versus 3 & 4 focus on the control exercised by a person through a small object (the bit, the rudder) on a large body (the horse, the ship).  Or to put it another way just as the bit determines the direction of the horse and the rudder the ship, so the tongue can determine the destiny of the individual. 

When the believer exercises careful control of the tongue, it can be presumed that s/he also is able to direct his/her own life in its proper, divinely chartered course: he is a ''perfect man''.  But when that tongue is not restrained, small though it is, the rest of the body is likely to be uncontrolled and undisciplined; and being so physically small  - what tremendous effects and claims it can boast of!

James 3: 5b & 6;  ''Behold, how great a matter [forest] a little fire kindleth [sets on fire].  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is among our members, that is defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.''

James goes on, rightly, labouring the point of the disproportionate and destructive power of the tongue.  It makes us consider the enormous and sometimes irreversible harm that can be caused by unsubstantiated, often false rumours.  Such a rumour can be harder to stop than any ''forest fire''.  We recall the childhood taunt 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me' which actually reverses the truth of the matter; wounds caused by sticks and stones heal whereas wounds caused by words sometimes can never heal!

James 3: 7 & 8; ''For every kind of beasts, and or birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue no man can tame: it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.''

Here, James uses the word ''tamed'' not in the context of domesticating or training animals to perform but in the sense of exercising control of dominion; mankind can control every lesser creature, but no one can control his/her own tongue.

 

James 3: 9 & 10; ''Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the simultude [likeness] of God.  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.  My brethren, these things ought not to be.''

The activity of blessing, in which we praise and honour God is cited by James as the highest, purest most noble form of speech. Whereas, in stark contrast, to curse someone in the ancient world was to desire that the person be cut off from God and experience eternal punishment.  For James what made cursing particularly heinous is that the one whom is pronounced damned has been made in God's image.  Though the fall of mankind has marred that image (or likeness), James teaches that is still exists  - therefore to curse people and yet bless God is inconsistent to say the least! 

 

In our New Covenant Age, God provides us with a way of communicating with Him using our tongue in a totally new, totally pure and absolutely amazing way - more on this next week  - but here are a few scriptures to whet our appetite and to give us a clue as to what next week's blog post will be all about:

Mark 16: 16 & 17; ''He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned [condemned], and these signs shall follow them that believe ; in my name they shall cast out devils [demons]; they shall speak in new tongues.'' (recorded words of Jesus)

Acts 2: 1, 2 & 4;  ''And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord [purpose] in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting.  And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.''

John 4: 24: ''God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.'' (recorded words of Jesus)

1 Corinthians 14: 14 a & b;  ''For if I [Paul] pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth ...''

 

1 Corinthians 14: 21 & 22b; ''In the law it is written, WITH MEN OF OTHER TONGUES AND OTHER LIPS WILL I SPEAK UNTO THIS PEOPLE; AND YET FOR ALL THAT WILL THEY NOT HEAR ME, (Isaiah  28; 11 & 12), saith the Lord.  Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not; ...''