Articles
Watch Your Mouth
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Wait a minute, let's try that again, "Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless." These are not my words, they are from the very Word of God ( James 1:26)
So what would that mean? If I curse and take the Lord's name in vain? If I gossip? If I stir up trouble? If I tell dirty jokes? If I belittle people? If I lie? If I speak evil of people? Well, yes, yes, yes, and yes!
James goes on in Chapter 3, to talk about taming the tongue. "...the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." (vs 5-6)
Especially in our world of social media where everybody has a platform to express their views, we see a lot of people saying things that ought never leave their brains, and are sometimes guilty ourselves. We do as James warns and use our "tongue [to] praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be." (vs 9-10)
Christian, we are supposed to strive to live in the image of God, and our God is certainly not this way! We need to take it serious when we open our mouths, and be careful what comes out of them. If what comes out is trash, such as trashing or hurting people, talking trash or gossiping about people, or just in general being dirty, filthy or otherwise garbage, we need to remember another verse, where Jesus said, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?" (Luke 11:39-40)
If our words are far from what they should be, what does that say about our hearts?
