Friday 30th
James 3:1-12
NIV (v5) – ‘Likewise, 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.’
ESV (v5) – ‘So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!’
I mentioned back on Friday the 23rd about what do we immediately call to mind when we think of the book of James, and I said that I think about his emphasis on faith and works and of the tongue. Here he has something important to say, ‘the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest fire is set ablaze by such a small fire!’ We know what James is saying, it only takes a spark to get a fire glowing and if it is a spark in the wrong place, it can have devastating effects. We see it do we not every year when we have a prolonged dry spell and a fire breaks out on the moors and mountains with incredible power, destroying everything in its path until it can finally be put out.
James is clear here in this Scripture that the tongue although a small part of the human anatomy can be incredibly powerful. Sadly, it too can often be like that little spark that starts the mountain fire that rages, causing destruction along the way.
Back in chapter 1:26 James had said, ‘If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridal his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.’ Remember also we considered a few days ago where he says that we need to be slow to speak and quick to listen, I wonder how often we can each look back over our lives and think of moments when we wish we had kept our mouth shut, we said something that we have lived to regret, the tongue was used to create a spark and the fire raged, maybe out of control and the effects are still being felt and known. It may have been a spiteful word, it may have been an unfounded accusation, it may have been a lie, a false statement or even a promise we knew we had no intention of keeping and as a result, others have been hurt and may still be hurting. Maybe it has prevented someone from entering the kingdom of God!
I once knew of a person who was the most dreadful gossip you could ever have known; this person would gossip about anyone and everything, if there was anything to be known about anyone, this person would be the source to go to! Gossip fits exactly what James means by a spark that sets a fire burning, for gossip is often based upon rumour, unverified information and it becomes contagious as the gossiped gossip is gossiped further, it spreads like a devastating fire, and the sad thing is it is causing damage, it is causing hurt, it can be a form of character assassination. But we must not just think in terms of gossip and other synonyms linked to it but what about a blasphemous word, an unkind word, a hateful word, a lie or untruth, an idle word as Jesus refers to in Matthew 12:36 or an oath as referred to in Matthew 5:33-37.
In Proverbs we read, ‘whoever guards his mouth preserves his life’ (13:3) and in Matthew 15 we read that what comes out of our mouths is the fruit of what is to be found in our hearts, David made this prayer ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in the sight O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Psalm 19:14) May we as James suggests, learn to control our tongues and may this be our prayer that that which comes from our hearts and out through our lips will be acceptable to God, may we use the tongue to build up and not to destroy, to encourage and not to put down, to bless and not to curse, to speak forth the praises of him who has brought us out of darkness into the most glorious light.