Taming the Tongue

"But no one can tame the tongue. With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? - James 3:8a-11"

I'm a complainer. I was born that way, or maybe having struggled with that for so long, I thought that was the way I emerged from the womb. The flame of my critical nature was so furiously fanned until it burned uncontrollably and began to leave a smoky path of destruction everywhere I went and with every person I met. Unbelievably, like others with the same problem, I lived in denial, unaware of this personality trait until a loved one, clothes still scorched by the heat of my mouth, sat me down and told me the truth. I could smell the fresh smoke and see the singed burn marks that had been left by my heated comments. They were kind yet honest. The conversation left me stunned, shocked by the self-revelation to which I had been so blinded to but better after being made aware of it.



The Spirit came with His strong conviction that uncovered this fleshly part of me yet soothing grace to cool the embers of my critical nature. “The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a fire is set ablaze by such a small fire! The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the very course of life . . .”(James 3:5-6 ESV). I looked around at the life I had and saw small fires raging all around me, and in most cases, I knew I’d started them.



In the days and weeks that followed, I began to feel a twinge of conviction every time a complaint or unnecessarily offered critical comment escaped my lips. Soon, I’d feel the conviction before the comment was spoken. The smoldering coals of criticism would sit on the tip of my tongue longing to make their escape. Then I had to decide whether to light the match and let the fire burn or submit to the soothing cool living water of God’s grace to me as I extended it to someone else. In those moments, what I knew for sure was that both things couldn’t be accomplished at the same time. I had to choose to indulge one option or the other; to submit to the fleshly complaints of my tongue; or to allow my mouth to be a resting ground for the praises of God. It had to be one or the other, and I was the one who had to make the choice.



“Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?” James asks. The answer is a resounding “No!” Both cannot come out of the same spigot. If we want our homes and workplaces to be filled with the sound of God’s praises coming from our mouths, then we must cleanse our palates of anything that would squeeze out its position of prominence. Let’s make a choice to hold in our mouths only those things which will bring honor and glory to our great God. "

~Priscilla Shirer