James 3
September Memory Verse: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
Read: James 3
The old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words could never hurt me”, is the complete opposite of how James describes life. Quite honestly, James describes the tongue as the thing that causes the most damage.
I remember a few years back when Gatlinburg had a wildfire break out. It killed 14 people and did millions of dollars of damage. How did it start? By two teenagers playing with matches.
James compares our tongue to that. Something so small but causes a great deal of damage. And we have all experienced both ends of this. We have been hurt by what someone has said, and we have hurt someone with what we have said.
James is warning us. He wants us to be aware of how we speak to people. James wants us to praise God and to not curse people in His image. And if you remember the words of Jesus, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.” (Matthew 15:18)
What we have to understand from the words of Jesus is that we have a heart problem, just like every other sin. And so, in order to put off this sin, it is not only about changing your vocabulary (which is part of it), but it is about changing your heart. It’s changing your heart towards people you speak harshly to. It’s changing your heart to not have sudden outbursts of anger. It’s changing your heart to love people as God has loved them.
And this is going to be challenging. James said that if someone can tame the tongue, they could be perfect because they could tame everything else (v. 2). Taming the tongue is difficult, but thanks be to God who has given us the power to fight sin because of His Son and through the Holy Spirit.
I challenge you today to examine your heart and how you speak to people.
By: Brice Stockton
Read: James 3
The old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words could never hurt me”, is the complete opposite of how James describes life. Quite honestly, James describes the tongue as the thing that causes the most damage.
I remember a few years back when Gatlinburg had a wildfire break out. It killed 14 people and did millions of dollars of damage. How did it start? By two teenagers playing with matches.
James compares our tongue to that. Something so small but causes a great deal of damage. And we have all experienced both ends of this. We have been hurt by what someone has said, and we have hurt someone with what we have said.
James is warning us. He wants us to be aware of how we speak to people. James wants us to praise God and to not curse people in His image. And if you remember the words of Jesus, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.” (Matthew 15:18)
What we have to understand from the words of Jesus is that we have a heart problem, just like every other sin. And so, in order to put off this sin, it is not only about changing your vocabulary (which is part of it), but it is about changing your heart. It’s changing your heart towards people you speak harshly to. It’s changing your heart to not have sudden outbursts of anger. It’s changing your heart to love people as God has loved them.
And this is going to be challenging. James said that if someone can tame the tongue, they could be perfect because they could tame everything else (v. 2). Taming the tongue is difficult, but thanks be to God who has given us the power to fight sin because of His Son and through the Holy Spirit.
I challenge you today to examine your heart and how you speak to people.
By: Brice Stockton
2 Comments
Good word today Brice! As I was reading the scripture and commentary this morning I was reminded of a "Tim-ism" that has stuck with me since the first time I heard Tim Parsons say it.
"What's down in the well, comes up in the bucket"
This is so true. What is deep in the heart comes out in our speech. This has convicted me on more than a few occasions. Controlling the tongue has been a problem for mankind since the first sin in the Garden of Eden. My prayer is that God will direct my (our) speech so that it glorifies Christ, points people to God's perfect word, and encourages our fellow man. Thanks for the commentary today Brice.
I love that Tim-ism too.'; it's definitely a truism. This chapter demonstrates that concept so well. The tongue is such a small part of us, but has the incredible power to encourage or destroy. It comes to mind that saying "you kiss your mother with that mouth?" I love how practical James is. Thanks for today's commentary, Brice.