Saturday, July 17, 2010

July 17, 2010

"Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so." James 3:10



After a passionate and detailed description of the latent dangers of an uncontrolled tongue James summarizes with this brief statement. Brief, yes, but very revealing.



What he says essentially is, "Decide what you want coming out of your mouth, praises or curses." That implies that the tongue CAN be controlled and that you are ultimately responsible to do so.
Think about the picture painted here. James portrays a person who stands in church on Sunday singing and praising and testifying but the rest of the week launches swear words with regularity. Is that how you want to be characterized? Do you want to be known as someone who has an uncontrolled tongue? Do you want your life controlled by your tongue?



Knowing that you can control your tongue probably means that you should, don't you think? Or do you think God will look the other way while you blurt out hurtful and obscene stuff? I don't think so!
Certainly, controlling your tongue is not easy. There is no arguing that. But neither is it easy to be praising one moment and cursing the next.
The first decision you need to make is simply, "Do I really want to control my tongue?"
If you are willing then you need to understand the source of the problem. Your tongue problem is not a tongue problem - it is a heart problem!
"You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." Matthew 12:34-35
"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.'" Matthew 15:17-18
What James knew and Jesus made clear, an uncontrolled tongue is a symptom of a sinful heart. A tongue problem is actually a heart problem. So managing the tongue or trying to control it will be an exercise in frustration. If you want to win the battle with your tongue you must allow God to deal with issues of the heart. Until you are willing to give God access into the deep dark dispusting secrets of your heart you will lose the battle with your tongue. Unless you are willing to get that serious with God - you are talking nonsense.