Tag: tongue

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James Devotionals

What defiles us

…the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body… (James 3:6, LSB)

When I read those words, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus’ words.

What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

All these evil things come from within and defile a person. (Mark 7:20-23)

I haven’t thought of words much as something that defiles me. That makes me unclean before my Lord.

But words express what is in my heart. And Jesus says that on the day of judgment I will have to account for every careless word I have spoken (Matthew 12:33-37)

Father, like Isaiah, I am a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5). How often have I defiled myself by the careless things I have said? Forgive me.

Who perceives his unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins;
do not let them rule me.

Then I will be blameless
and cleansed from blatant rebellion.

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:12-14)

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Psalms Devotionals 2

Guarding our words

Psalms

James said that no one could tame the tongue (James 3:8).

I suppose the one area I really question myself the most about is my words. Are my words, not only in speech, but in social media always pleasing to God?

In Psalm 140, David talks about how evil people’s words are like a snake’s bite or viper’s venom. (Psalm 140:3)

In Psalm 141, though, he prays,

Lord, set up a guard for my mouth;
keep watch at the door of my lips. (Psalm 141:3)

And so that was my prayer today.

Lord, guard my tongue. Watch the door of my lips.

And search me and know my heart. If any of my words are offensive to you, make it clear to me.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart always be acceptable to you (Psalm 19:14).

Categories
James

How true faith expresses itself (Part 5)

James

I suppose I could have just titled this blog, “The tongue,” or some other such title.

But I wanted to remind myself that this is really part of a longer argument that James is making. That faith expresses itself in love, in purity, and in our speech.

This passage is kind of a revisitation of chapter 1 verse 26 where James wrote,

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

We pointed out when we first looked at this that the reason for this is that our tongue shows the true state of our heart.

So many times people will say apologize for something they said by saying, “Sorry about that. It just kind of popped out.”

But the question is why? Why did it pop out? It popped out because it was there in your heart. It didn’t just pop out of nowhere. It resided in your heart, and when the time was ripe, it burst out.

And the thing is, because we all have sin in our hearts, there are any number of things there ready to pop out when we least expect it.

That’s why James tells us,

We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. (James 3:2)

Words are much quicker to come out of our mouths then our body is to act on any thought we may have.

And so if our heart ever comes to the point of maturity and completion that nothing bad ever pops out, it would be safe to say that we most likely would never do anything wrong.

But of course, as long as we are on this earth, there will always be sin in our hearts. And that’s why James says,

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. (7)

And the thing is, what we say can shape our lives as well as the shape of others. Just as a bit can turn a horse completely around, and a rudder can do the same to a ship, so the tongue can completely turn the life of a person for good or bad.

Unfortunately, too often it turns a person’s life for the worse. James compares it to a spark that can bring down an entire forest.

What you say can destroy your whole life, or the life of another. And because of that, James says that such a tongue is set on fire by hell itself.

Jobs are lost because of our words. Marriages die because of our words. Children are crushed because of our words. Friendships are broken by our words.

And yet so often we speak them so carelessly. Is it no wonder that James calls them a deadly poison? (8)

James says,

With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.

Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. (9-10)

Put another way, how can we say we love God when we curse people who are made in his image?

He concludes,

Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. (11-12)

The truth is, while these things should not be, they do happen when it comes to our words because of what’s in our hearts. We have both fresh water and salt water there.

So if you wonder why you struggle so much with your tongue, consider the source of your words?

What is in your heart? What bitterness, anger, or other ugliness is there? Because until you let Jesus deal with what’s there, you will never be able to control your tongue.

So let us pray as David did.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

Categories
James

If you would be a teacher

Spring of water

As I look back on my life, I kind of marvel at how I have gotten to this point in my ministry. I just ask myself, “How did I get here?”

It all started simply enough, I suppose. My brother started working with an organization called Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) as a summer missionary when he was in high school and college.

Then a friend of mine also decided join CEF, and one day said words that changed my life. “Are you going to join CEF this summer too?”

He seemed greatly disappointed when I said no. But that started the wheels in motion in my heart, and the next summer I started ministering to children teaching them God’s word. And from there it snowballed.

I went from teaching children to teaching my peers. Then I moved to Japan, and started teaching the Bible to my students.

And then out of the blue, my pastor asked if I would speak at a home church. From there, that opened up opportunities to speak in larger church services. And here I am.

I almost want to say, “I didn’t ask for this.” But perhaps it would be more accurate to say, “I didn’t expect all this.”

But here I am, in the position I’m in, and I face this passage. And it’s a heavy one for me and all who would be teachers in the church.

James said,

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1)

Why? Two reasons.

First, if we are not careful in our teaching, we can lead people astray from the truth that is in Christ.

Second, when we stand in front of people preaching God’s word, they then pay particular attention to whether we live those words or not.

We are to be examples to God’s flock. And when we fail, we can cause great damage to that flock.

It is the second that I think James is more concerned about here. We’ll talk more about the tongue as it concerns Christians in general tomorrow, but I think it would be good to focus on it from the standpoint of those who preach God’s word first.

James talks about the damage that we can cause to people with our tongues. He calls it a fire that can consume and destroy. (6) He calls it a restless evil filled with deadly poison. (8)

And for teachers that is the ultimate irony. With our speech we can exhort, rebuke, and edify. But with our speech, we can also destroy. And James asks,

Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? (11)

Quite frankly, it shouldn’t. As teachers, our mouths should be instruments of God, but when we tear people down, using biting sarcasm and cutting words, they instead become instruments of Satan. And this shouldn’t be.

James then gets to the root of all this: our hearts.

He asks,

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. (13)

In other words, a truly wise and understanding teacher proves himself not by his words preached on the pulpit, but by his life off of it.

And a truly wise teacher walks in humility, concerned with nothing but loving God and the people God has given him.

But some teachers are not this way. They are always comparing themselves with others. They compare themselves with other teachers with more successful ministries.

Or they compare themselves with their flock, always looking down on them. And James warns,

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

Such “wisdom” does not come from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. (14-16)

What is the wisdom that should characterize the teacher? James tells us.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. (17-18)

Teachers, what kind of harvest are you raising in your church? One of chaos and evil? Or one of peace and righteousness?

If you see a lot of the former, before you judge anyone else, look at your own life. Which characterizes your life more? Verses 14-16? Or verses 17-18?

What standard are you living up to?

Categories
Psalms

Who is master of your tongue?

Psalms

In Psalm 12, David laments the lack of godly, faithful men.  And the one area he focuses on is the tongues of those around him.  He said,

Everyone lies to his neighbor;
their flattering lips speak with deception.

May the LORD cut off all flattering lips
and every boastful tongue that says,
“We will triumph with our tongues;
we own our lips – who is our master?”  (Psalm 12:2-4)

David then compares the words of his neighbors to the words of the Lord, saying,

The words of the LORD are flawless,
like silver refined in a furnace of clay,
purified seven times.  (6)

If we claim Jesus as our Lord, he should also be Lord of our tongues.  Is he?  Are our words like silver refined in the fire until they’re completely pure as Jesus’ were?

Or do lies, boasting, deception, and slander mark our lips?  Do gossip, complaining, and inappropriate jokes flow from our mouths?

Paul wrote,

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  (Ephesians 4:29)

What’s been coming out of your mouth today?