Christians who control their tongues and conduct are able to live rightly and in peace with one another! Keeping your speech and conduct under control is IMPOSSIBLE..."without Me, you can do nothing"...BUT WITH HIM, you can do all things through Christ Who lives in you and desires to live HIS LIFE out through you!
We must deal with the issue of self-control. One who does not like to be controlled show it by refusing to control themselves BY CHOICE. The LORD will give the power and grace to bring control into your reality but you must make the choice!
Some say whatever POPS INTO their heads. They may say, "I say what I think!" God forbid! The enemy shoots thoughts to us and we do his broadcasting when we say everything that pops into our minds.
Have you ever said something that even as you remember, you feel regret? Even when committed to exercising self-control, a Christian can speak hurtful words and perform wrong actions. Every such happening reflects on our relationship with the LORD.
James is encouraging believers to control their speech and their conduct. You can increase your sensitivity to your words - crude? cussing, profanity - using the Lord's name in vain (and that may mean only using His name in a casual manner not used in cursing!)
James emphasizes the importance and responsibility of Christian teachers and warns of accountability. Then he gives three illustrations...all three illustrations contrast the tongue's small size to its tremendous power. 3:3-6
We are to speak carefully and be consitent in our speech. James especially addresses teachers' heavy responsibility to speak carefully. Many believers may decide they would like to teach, but are not qualified or equipped. They may be looking for prestige, recognition, and honor. First the Christian needs to grasp the Gospel's contents and application for living. James is cautioning that not everyone who aspires to teach should or even could adequately.
However, this is not to say that you should ignore or reject the desire to teach..."God's calling"! Every church needs qualified, committed, compassionate teachers of His Word.
Proverbs 15:1-2, 3-4, 17: 27-28, 21:23
James used as illustration of the power of the tongue: Horses guided by the bits...bits have power out of proportion to their size. Ships guided with the rudder. The rudder's size does not give a true picture of its power or of the concentrated attention it demands of pilots. Tongue, an essential element to clear speech - a small part of the body...boasts of great things...tremendous power and influence of speech. Small fire can engulf a huge forest! ... emphasizes the almost unlimited destructiveness of uncontrolled speech.
A world of unrighteousness ... the tongue has the potential for evil ... don't underestimate its importance. Undisciplined speech pollutes the whole body...it can set the course of life on fire. Uncontrolled speech cuts a path of destruction throught a person's entire lifetime.
No man can control the tongue...ONLY the LORD can make this conquest! The tongue's use is rooted in our thinking!!! You do not open your mouth and randomly words fly out! You first thought it and then with emotions riled up, the words proceed out of the mouth recklessly.
How do you speak to your children? Do your words bless them, confirm them, affirm them? OR are your words destructive and linger forever in their "flesh computer" for the enemy's use to defeat them and lead them into incorrect thinking?
Gary Smalley in his book The Blessing expresses well the use of words in a child's life. Your words to your child are VERY IMPORTANT!!!
Things that don't come back: 1. sent arrow 2. lost opportunity 3. spoken words
Idle words are dangerous - don't attempt to always "fill the air with the noise of your voice". Without significance or meaning - without soundness of motive or intent, without the foundation of God's word, words said idly do damage!
To bless the LORD and then turn around and curse His creation is being a "forked" tongue individual! Can both evil and good come from the same source????? v.11
[Before we can smear mud on another's face, we must stick our hand in the mud.]
3:18 And the harvest of righteousness (of conformity to God's will in thought and deed) is [the furit of the seed] sown in peace by those who work for and make peace-in themselves and in others, [that is] that peace which means concord (agreement, harmony) between individuals, with undistrubedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts. AMP.Bible
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