If you can accomplish this one task, you will be perfect, and you whole body will be under control. What’s the task? Read on to find out.
Have you ever heard the expression “his mouth is going to get him in trouble”? Actually, I have heard it, said it about others, and had it said about me. Usually it’s uttered when someone is bragging or goading another person. It implies that the person who is talking is going to get beaten up if he’s doesn’t quiet down.
James isn’t talking about that in particular….he’s saying that our tongue (our mouth, our language) takes us places that we don’t want to go. If you think that’s wrong, let me ask you this: have you ever been caught up in an argument with your spouse that you didn’t want to be in? Guess what got you there? No,, it wasn’t the other person, it was your mouth. Humility forces us to realize that we are the one that needs to change. I have tried to have an argument with a peaceful person….it doesn’t work. People who have heated discussions with me have them because I allow myself to become upset and angry and that comes percolating out of my mouth.
Maybe it happens because you had a bad day. Maybe it’s because the topic is one of your “hot buttons”. Maybe it’s something completely different…it doesn’t matter, when you trace it back to it’s root it all comes from the same place.
Luke 6:45 says this: A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart“
Would you like to “tame your tongue”? If you do so, your whole body will be in control, and you will be perfect. Here’s the way to do it. Don’t focus on the tongue, focus on the heart. Surrender the heart completely to Jesus and the tongue will follow. Luke tells us that our speech is simply a reflection of what is in our heart already. When your tongue reflects something terrible and unhealthy, immediately look to your heart.
I said look to YOUR heart, not the heart of the person you are arguing with. This is harder than it would appear to be. Trust me, I am constantly trying to do this, and I don’t always get it right. So, it’s not my tongue that has actually steered me wrong, it’s my heart….and the tongue is the outward expression of my heart, and the outward expression is what is changing my circumstances all the time.
Enough about the tongue. I think we all understand. On to the second part.
Humility produces good works and kind words. Jealousy and selfishness produce arguments and turmoil. Bragging and lying come from a proud heart. Do you see what James is doing here? He’s saying the same thing that I just talked about. He’s tying the heart to our speech, and giving us “indicator lights” to recognize when we are in danger.
The wise person…that is, the person who has realized that the heart must be surrendered, (and then surrenders it) is the peace loving, kind, gentle, merciful and “willing to yield” personality that we all should desire to become.
Consider this: if we possessed such wisdom in our universities and government, and if it were taught in our public schools, there would be far less crime, less racism, less angst during elections, less riots, and less deception. If surrendering the heart to Jesus were taught to all, then there would be less workplace theft, less false insurance claims, less days off work, less people on welfare, less divorce and fewer dropouts.
We have a problem “around here”. and the problem is that we as a nation are working against what the Bible teaches, instead of being in harmony with it. We’re taught to get ahead at all costs, sacrifice the jobs of some neighbors to increase profits, and speaking of profit…..we’ve made it into god.
No wonder James says at the very beginning of this chapter “not many of you should become teachers”. Maybe the problem is that we have allow the wrong people to teach.
Pondering,
PR