Good Saturday morning! It is a little before 5 and I have a lot going today because I didn't get everything done this week, so here I am. I have my list and if everything goes as planned, I should be able to relax about 6 tonight, but if it goes as planned, I also should have most of tomorrow afternoon to rest before another big week. I got a kick out of a recent Lowe's commercial I saw where all these guys were getting their Saturday projects wiped out so they could have their Sunday's. Those Sundays that all I have to do between church services is my normal getting ready for the week stuff (clean out my car, my purse, lay out my week's clothes, make sure the car has gas, and is washed) those are really nice days. And hopefully tomorrow will be one of them.
This week we are talking about the tongue. One of the main causes of sin, in my opinion. What would a world be if people never said mean things to one another? What would the world be if people never said things that made people want to go to war? But on the flip side of that, what would the world be if we weren't able to sing praises to our Lord, or weren't able to tell a loved one how we feel about them. We are going to see today that a tongue can be a wonderful instrument of God, or it can be the downfall of our whole existence.
Here we go:
James 3:3-11
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 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. 5 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. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water
verses 3-6
Highlight= the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Explain: This verse shows a lot of examples of what the tongue is like; a bridle, a ship, a forest fire, and a fire itself. It is amazing that something so small can do so much damage, and James mentions that it makes great boasts. I guess I probably do not go more than a day without hearing 1 John 2:16 in my head. Ironically, talking about the tongue, I always here is in Teddy Marrs' voice. This is the verse that Teddy said could categorize all sin in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and pride of life. He was always able to tear it down into a young man's sins (lust of the flesh) a middle age man's sins (lust of the eyes) and an old man's sins (pride of life). When I hear that the tongue can make great boasts, I think of that pride of life. Look what I did. Let's face it, if you did great things, God was behind it. I love the things I have accomplished in my lifetime, I know God allowed me to get there and it makes me feel good. I also know that I have struggled with accomplishing things. Apply: You know that song, Only Jesus by Casting Crowns? I get to feeling guilty because I feel I have really made a name for myself in my field. For the longest time, I had to really work on making sure I was giving God the glory when someone from across the United States would come up to me at a conference and say, you are Mindy, right? Yes, it made me feel good. I just got to do a training at another agency here in Illinois. Our state association called and asked if I would do it and I said I would be honored but this was back in August and I didn't have any free time. I suggested another particular person and they came back with, no, they will wait, they want you. That really does make you feel good. Come to find out, they had heard me speak at our National Energy conference in June and that was part of the reason the wanted me to come. They thought I would be easy to work with, and would be able to teach them without making them feel dumb. I realized, that was the Jesus showing through. And ironically, the 24 hours at their office gave me a revival for my own job that I was desperately needing. Respond: Lord, help me continually remember that if I should boast, it should be about You. You are the reason I get to do anything and I thank you for this life.
verses 7-8
Highlight= no human being can tame the tongue. Explain=Can you even count the many times you have said something and then instantly realize what you said and how it was taken? Can you even count the times in a single week? I know most of us have seen the object lesson of squeezing a tube of toothpaste out on a plate and then being told to put it back in the tube. Once it is out there, it is out there. I had to apologize just this week because I had a major misunderstanding with a close friend and coworker. I wasn't understanding what her thought process was and she was taking what I was saying as judgmental instead of protective, which is what I was trying to do. We are good now, but we both still know it happened. Apply= So many times, we hurt people unintentionally. It is hard when you don't know someone's back story to know what a trigger might be and something that seems perfectly innocent to some, may be harmful to others. Case in point. Many people I come into contact with have figured out that I am a Christian and that my family are all Christians. They assume certain things because of that. Honestly, irritatingly, I think a lot of people think we are perfect. So, this person starts talking about people who are addicts, and not talking very nice about them and then they go on to say how they couldn't have been raised right. I held it together enough to say, you know, none of us are above sin. Addiction happens for many reasons. My son is a recovering alcoholic, and he will tell you himself, he had a great childhood and he was raised in church with a whole village that was there for him (and I can't talk about this without telling you how that whole village stood behind him through rehab and I know they still hold him up in prayer daily). Needless to say, I went back to my hotel room that night and cried. I was attacked but the person didn't even know they were attacking me, they were still saying things that I feel they needed more education on so I felt it was important to gently let them know maybe they should do a little more research and maybe I kept someone who isn't as strong from being faced with the same conversation. Respond= Lord, help me think twice and speak once but even more importantly, since You tell us the tongue can't be tamed, help me to recognize when to say I am sorry.
verse 9-12
Highlight= Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. Explain=There is a lot of ways these verses could go, but I am just going to focus on one. Everyday speech. Is your everyday speech honoring God? I have a very hard time with people who can't say a sentence without cussing. And quite frankly, when I am the person who receives phone calls because someone is unhappy with the results of an outreach office visit for energy assistance, I hear a lot of cussing. It is bad enough when someone is upset and using cuss words but seriously, there are those out there who can't seem to function without it and I don't understand that. That being said, I used to use a word that I didn't think of as bad. The word was crap. I hadn't really thought about it, I just used it. One night, as I was leading our church choir, I said it and Betty Carr said, "I wouldn't want in my hand what just came out of your mouth" I realized she was right. Apply= Matthew 5:37 tells us to let our answers be yea, yea, or nay, nay. We really don't need all the extras to get our point across. Several years ago I read an article that said people who felt like they had to use cussing to get their point across had never been educated as to how to properly use the English language and they come across as uneducated. It took me some time to stop using that word, and I still hear it slip out once in a while, it never does though without thinking about that time in choir. I have another word that comes out of my mouth normally when I fall down or something is going really really wrong. Ironically, it is another word for crap and it comes out before I even think. I hate that but I haven't been able to master that one yet. Funny story about that too. One time when Robert was in high school, his best friend, Adam, spent more time at our house than anywhere. The boys were in the back yard and I was coming down the backstairs into the garage. I fell and tumbled down the stairs they heard it, and then they heard the word. Adam beat Robert there because, he "knew something was really wrong to hear that word come out of your mouth". I know every piece of me is still a work in progress and it will be until the day I get to go to Heaven. I will be perfect, just not here on earth so you and I both have to put up with our imperfections until then. Of course, we can try everyday not to let them happen, but we know perfection is not truly going to be obtained here on earth. Respond= Lord, we know we will never be perfect here on this earth but we also know it is our job to try for perfection everyday. Help me tame my tongue as much as possible and let my speech always be glorifying to you.
I feel there could be ten Bible studies done on this passage and never really get everything said. This one is big and we only have so much time, so this is what I am pulling out of it.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend. now off to my walk!
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