Control Your Speech

Jesus and the Just Reign of God
Live Justly in the Reign of God
Control Your Speech

James 3:1-12

The Message

When You Open Your Mouth

3 ^1-2 Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

^3-5 A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!
^5-6 It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.
^7-10 This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!
^10-12 My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

 
For Reflection

We all teach, formally or informally, in words or in action.  The rhyme, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me." has never been true.  Words hurt.  Words cause violent acts.  Words cause wars.  Words dehumanize us.

Words can also up lift us.  Words can be an instrument of love, justice and compassion.  Our words should express our treatment of people who are made in the likeness of God.  Speak with love in the best interest of all. Use words that give evidence to the goodness of the Spirit who resides in you.

Micah 6:8

Authorized (King James) Version

⁸ He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
and what doth the Lord require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?

 

Pray

that your words will reflect the goodness in you.  Pray that you will go forth in the spirit of the Living God and do justice, love kindness, and walk in humility with God.