People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:7-8
It was late on a June afternoon when we pulled off Interstate 94 into a rest area in eastern Montana. Erin, my three-year-old daughter, needed to use the rest room. My mother, Erin’s grandma, took Erin by the hand and walked up the paved path toward the facilities. As they neared the rest room, my mom felt a rug as Erin bent down to look at a young rattlesnake coiled on the path. Young rattlers have not yet learned to measure the venom they inject, so their bites can be lethal. Fortunately, this snake slithered away instead of striking Erin.
Many potentially dangerous animals roam the Western wilderness-rattlesnakes, mountain lions, grizzly bears. But the most deadly creature of all is closer than you think. It’s a creature, says James, that none of us can tame: the tongue. The tongue’s deadly poison can shatter self-esteem, crush a joyful spirit, trigger anger, and divide friends. The tongue is a contradiction. The same tongue that sang “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” in worship can, thirty minutes later, suddenly lash out at a spouse or a child on the drive home from church.
If no one can tame this dangerous animal, what can we do? Throughout Scripture we’re advised to think before we speak, and many of us have learned from hard experience not to blurt out the first words that come to mind. Yet the ultimate solution runs deeper: Tame not only the tongue but the thoughts that motivate the tongue. Envy, bitterness, unresolved resentments, pride, selfishness, impulsiveness-all lie behind our unbridled speech. We need to clean the garbage out of our hearts, admitting our weaknesses to God and asking him to deal with our sinfulness. Then our tongues will settle down, tamed and harmless.
—Steve Mathewson
Reflection
When was the last time I said something I regretted? What was behind it? How have I tried to control these tendencies?
Prayer
God, give me discernment to know when to speak and when not to. Help me to curb the impulse to say the first thing that comes to mind. Help me to listen more and speak less. Most of all, though, clean the garbage out of my heart-and fill those spaces with what is pure and godly and positive and true. Fill those spaces with your Spirit!
Words ore as beautiful as wild horses and sometimes as difficult to corral.
—Ted Berkman, biographer and screenwriter
Leadership DevotionsCopyright Tyndale House Publishers.Used by permission.
