Don't You Dare Say That Word!

If you wonder about the statement: "That's the pot calling the kettle black" then your question will be answered when you read about me discussing the matter of controlling your tongue.  It's a good thing I'm typing this, because otherwise the ink in my pen would bleed "hypocrite".  Having said that, it still doesn't dismiss the truth that our tongue is an amazing weapon of mass destruction.   Listen to James 3:5–6 (ESV)  

⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 

Remember the delightful radio show:  Kid's Say the Darndest Things?  Well I thought of that title as I read James 3:5-6.   I would say it this way, "We as people say the "damnest" things."  Now I'm not supposed to say, "Damn!"  My parents taught me that much.  But what if we don't say damn, but damn people in what we say?  Is that anymore right?  "Evil speech (including blasphemy, gossip, slander, lying, false vows, and the like) has the power to spoil, stain, and corrupt the entire moral character of a person." [1].

Now James has already said that if we can tame the tongue we have achieved perfection.  There's a target I probably won't get to until the ashes are sprinkled on my coffin.  But it is a goal -- a tough one. I am challenged by the quote from  Cesare Payese (an Italian poet and novelist): "Give me the ready hand rather than the ready tongue."




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1.  Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). Reformation study Bible, the : Bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture : New King James Version (Jas 3:6). Nashville: T. Nelson.