08/25/2021
Weekly Meditation for 25 August 2021
by Pastor Dan
For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
(James 3:2-12)
This morning we received a message from our daughter. She and her family are heading up to northern Minnesota where they have a cabin and where a wildfire is raging within nine miles of them. They are well aware of the power and danger of a forest fire. The message concerned me, of course – our three-year-old granddaughter was with them. But it also made me change the focus of my meditation for today.
James is one of those books we don’t often talk about – it is demanding and difficult. Martin Luther didn’t even want to include it in the canon. Most preachers want to deal with the gospels or Paul’s epistles. But James still stands as God’s word, and as such we need to look at what it says to us.
And what it says convicts me and many of us. Here in this portion it deals with a troubling member of our bodies – the tongue (actually, metonymy for our speech, our language, how we talk with, and about, one another).
Two things struck me as I meditated on this passage.
First, the tongue is like a small fire, but how soon it flames into a great conflagration: It burns out of control. A little bit of gossip. A snide comment. a critical word. A “white lie.” a malicious charge. It doesn’t really matter, does it. Once said, the word gets out and takes a life of its own. People get hurt. Lives are destroyed. Reputations are obliterated. It happens as quickly as a fire spreads.
The second thing I noticed is the doubleness of any action. Our language can both bless and curse. We are given tools of all kinds. Knives. Guns. Axes. Words. Invitations. Accusations. All can do wonderful, constructive, heavenly things. They can bless; they can build up; they can enhance life; they can strengthen the church. Yes, there is so much positive our tools can do. But those same things can bring destruction. They can kill. They can diminish individuals. They can ruin the work of God in a church. They can tear people apart.
God has given us choice. How we use our tongues is up to us. Let us use them for God’s kingdom and God’s glory.
P.S.
As I was searching for this meditation, I came upon a piece by Vernon McGee, a wonderful preacher. I leave you with his postscript:
Proverbs Ancient and Modern
Anyone who thinks by the inch and talks by the yard ought to be moved by the foot.
I always watch the words I say,
To keep them soft and sweet,
For I don’t know from day to day,
Which ones I’ll have to eat.
Speak as if Jesus was hearing you. He is.
It is well to remember that mansions in the sky cannot be built out of the mud thrown at others.
People with sharp tongues often end up cutting their own throats.
God in His wisdom has made the mouth to close and the ear to remain open.
“The boneless tongue, so small and weak
Can crush and kill,” declares the Greek.
“The tongue destroys a greater hoard,”
Asserts the Turk, “than does the sword.”
A Persian proverb wisely saith,
“A lengthy tongue—an early death”—
Or, sometimes takes this form instead,
“Don’t let your tongue cut off your head.”
“A tongue can speak a word whose speed,”
The Chinese say, “outstrips the steed,”
While Arab sages this impart:
“The tongue’s great storehouse is the heart.”
From Hebrew with this maxim sprung,
“Tho’ feet should slip, ne’er let the tongue.”
The sacred writer crowns the whole:
“Who keeps his tongue doth keep his soul.
