Is It Possible
to Tame My Tongue?
but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a
restless evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:8 (NIV)
Yesterday I received two riddles in one of
our school WatsApp group. It took me some time to find the answer. Here’s the
riddle – What lives in a cage, is surrounded by a jagged fence, and is walled
in on all sides? What is often held but never touched, always wet but never
rusts, often bites but is seldom bit, and to use it well, you must have wit?
For the answer to each of these riddles, just open your mouth and stick out the
answer. That’s right: the tongue!
God, in His creative diversity, has
fashioned many different kinds of tongues in his living creatures. Take, for instance,
the anteater’s tongue, which is a two-foot long tongue which can extend and
retract up to one hundred fifty times per minute and can catch up to thirty
thousand ants in a single day.
I just googled different types of tongue
in the Bible and was surprised at the list I got. The different kinds of
tongues that are found in us: the flattering tongue (Psalm 5:9); the proud
tongue (Psalm 12:3; 73:9); the lying tongue (Psalm 109:2; Proverbs 6:17); the
deceitful tongue (Psalm 120:2); the perverted tongue (Proverbs 10:31; 17:20);
the soothing tongue (Proverbs 15:4); the healing tongue (Proverbs 12:18); the
destructive tongue (Proverbs 17:4); the wicked tongue (Psalm 10:7); the soft
tongue (Proverbs 25:15); and the backbiting tongue (Proverbs 25:23). Which
tongue best describes the way we speak?
James emphasized the importance of not
only watching what we do as Christians, but also watching what we say as
Christians. James believed that if Jesus is Lord of our lives, then naturally,
Jesus also should be Lord over our language. How many times have we said something
we wish we could take back? We may have said an unkind or unloving word or told
a joke that was unbecoming of a Christian. The simple truth is; we are all guilty
of saying things that we should not have said. We have all seen where a
careless word caused conflict, a hurtful word caused heartache, or complaining
words caused discontent.
So how can a person tame the tongue or
control his or her conversation? According to James, this control is impossible
to exercise on our own. But we need not worry for the answer is found in God’s
Word. First of all, no man can tame the tongue (James 3:8), but God can (Mark
10:27). Second, the real problem with the tongue starts in the heart: “For out
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).
We speak words that come from our hearts. Therefore,
taming the tongue begins by taming our hearts and filling them with God’s Word.
If our hearts are abundantly filled with God’s Word, then our mouths will speak
from the overflow, and our words will be words of edification, exhortation, and
encouragement. We will speak kind words, gentle words, loving words, and words of
blessing. Therefore, taming the tongue begins by taming our hearts.
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