Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 270

September 27;     James 3:5;      220/260(IV);      ‘The Little Member’

James 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!

Controlling our tongue is one of the greatest needs we have.  It is also one of the greatest challenges.  Possibly, before Christianity, we did not discipline what we said and it might have gotten us into trouble.  In verse 8, the Bible teaches than ‘no man can tame the tongue.’  What hope then is for us to reign it in.  The word ‘man’ in verse 8 is the generic name for mankind.  A born again, Spirit filled Christian, with the help of the Lord can discipline their mouth and say only what is appropriate.  This verse tells us that if we are not careful in what we say, our words can create great problems for us.  The Lord created us and is well aware of the challenge what we say can be.  He has put His love into our spirit (Romans 5:5).  He has given us the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), which is in essence the character of Jesus.  The Lord Jesus has given us His Word which teaches us the need to guard what we say and how we can do this.  Verse 9 says that with our mouth we bless the Lord and with the same mouth we curse people.  As we mature in our walk with the Lord, and walking in the love of God is that maturity, we learn that with effort and a sincere desire not to offend others, we can control what we say.  Proverbs 18 tells us that life and death are in the power of the tongue.  We can speak words of life to bless others or we can speak words of death.  Death to relationships.  Death to the blessings of God.  Kind, godly words are a treasure to all they are spoken to.  As those who represent Jesus, we can and must speak words of life.