Let’s Dance: Leading My Words – Tuesday
James 3:4
Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. (NIV)
Ships are big.
Rudders are small.
One of the biggest ships in the world is the US aircraft carrier, USS Eisenhower. It weighs over 91,000 tons, is nearly 1,100 feet in length, has a nuclear–powered 280,000-horsepower engine, a crew of 6,100 men and women, and carries nearly 100 aircraft. It is massive. It is like a floating city. And yet all that weight and hardware are steered by a rudder that’s just a tenth of 1% of the ship’s size.
Something so comparatively small can maneuver something so huge.
That’s how it is with our tongues.
James compares it to the bit in a horse's mouth, the rudder on a ship, or even to a forest fire started by a small flame, that can set “the whole course of one’s life on fire” (James 3:6)
We’ve all experienced this. Tongues can make friendships sweet, families strong, and churches healthy. Tongues can give hope to the despairing, advance understanding, and spread the gospel. What is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?
But the opposite is true as well, tongues can be the death of marriages, families, friendships, churches, careers, and reputations. What’s the meanest thing anyone ever said to you? Those words may have been said once, but they can stay with us. They don’t go away quickly, they have a spreading effect, a polluting effect. Some of the things someone has said to you may still be polluting the way you see yourself or think about certain issues.
It seems that the Biblical authors want us to grasp this concept. It’s a theme you can trace throughout the Bible.
Here’s just an appetizer:
Today, make your mouth “a fountain of life” (Proverbs 10:11). Be “slow to speak and quick to listen” (James 1:19). Encourage more than you critique. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6). Seek opportunities to speak kind, tenderhearted words (Ephesians 4:32). Seek to only speak words that are “good for building up,” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) that “give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29). Become a person whose mouth is full of life.
In short, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). That means a lot is at stake in what we say today. And in literate societies like ours, “tongues” include hands that write and type, as well as mouths that speak.
So let’s be the kind of people that other people enjoy being around…and much of that will depend on how we use our words.
Tuesday’s Reflection
James 1:26 doesn’t mince words, “If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.” I don’t want my faith to be worthless, and I know you don’t either. Go back through this devotion and pick 1 or 2 verses that you can work on memorizing this week. Put them somewhere you’ll see them often and let the Holy Spirit use them to guide your speech.
