THE CENTRALITY OF THE TONGUE

JAMES 3:2–8

We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check

(James 3:2).

From the heart flow the issues of life. The place from which they issue forth is the tongue. Paul tells us that the human person is a living corpse (Romans 3:13–16). Deep down inside is the dead, rotting, stinking corpse of our hearts. Our throat leads down to this grave. The tongue is connected to this dead heart. It practices deceit and is full of poisonous cursing and bitterness. As a result, our feet run to evil and we know no peace.

A transformed heart should produce a transformed tongue, and this should change all the rest of our life. James says that the bit in the mouth of a horse directs the way of the horse, and the rudder on a ship directs the way of the ship. So it is with the tongue and the life of a man or woman.

At Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2, God gave new tongues of spiritual fire to the church. A small spark began a great fire. But there is another fire—the fire of hell. The tongue contains such hell fire. James refers to Gehenna, the valley near Jerusalem where garbage was burned. Like Paul, he sees the tongue motivated by death and hell. The hellfire that motivates the tongue will set the world on fire. Wars have been fought because of the harsh and unyielding words of men.

Because we are still sinners, taming the tongue is a hard, but necessary, task. Taming wild animals is nothing compared to taming the tongue. In fact, man was given dominion over the animals. So taming the animals is a possibility for us; James says that no man can tame the tongue.

If it is not possible for us to tame the tongue, then what are we to do? We must trust God to tame it. God tames our tongues in three ways. First, He puts His words on our lips. If we learn to sing the psalms, our tongues will be retrained. Second, he regulates our tongues by His law. It we use our tongues in ways that are proper according to the Bible, avoiding gossip and lying, then our tongues are becoming tamed. And third, He tames our tongues by telling us to be quiet and listen to His Word as expounded by the teachers He has appointed in the church. By being submissive, we learn to tame our tongues.

CORAM DEO

Romans 14–16

As you pray today, ask God to show you times and places when your tongue has caused harm to others. Then ask Him to retrain your tongue, taming it for you. A good place to start is with the psalms. Put these God-written words on your tongue, and make God’s songs your own.

For further study: Psalms 34:11–16; 39:1–5 • Prov. 15:1–4; 18:20–21

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