The Tongue is a Fire

Maybe, like me, you sang a song in Sunday School that says, “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see, Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above is looking down in love, So be careful little eyes what you see.”  The song also includes warnings to little ears, hands, feet and mouth—parts of the body that can get us into trouble.

James would consider the mouth the biggest culprit.

In his New Testament letter, he talks a lot about taming the tongue. He says it 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.  The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.  It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell” (Jas 3:5-6).

It’s enough to make you never want to say another word!

Keeping our mouths shut helps, but that’s just a part of the solution.  According to Jesus, “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matt 12:34).  So what we say simply reveals what’s in our hearts.

Sometimes the things that come out of our mouths shock us.  Did I just say that?  Is that really what I think?  It should cause us to examine our hearts, our motives, and our attitudes.  And as we honestly bring these things to Jesus, He cleanses us.

Taming the Tongue

Here are some things we can do that will help our little mouths be careful what they say:

1. Keep our hearts right with God (See 1 John 1:9).
2. Ask Him to set a guard over our mouth and keep watch over the door of our lips (Ps 141:3).
3. Speak of God’s goodness.  As we focus on God, we can do what the psalmist declares in Ps 71:15: “My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long—though I know not how to relate them all.”
4. Avoid “obscenity, foolish talk and coarse joking,” (Eph 5:4) which are so much a part of this world’s conversations.
5. Follow the counsel of Paul in Col 4:6: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

No matter how careful we are, we will never be able to tame our own tongues. But as we look to Jesus we can be sure he will guard our mouths and train our hearts to speak words that glorify God and edify other people.

Ginger