“People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.” (James 3:7-8 NLT)
This scripture is quite familiar to us as regular bible readers, often becoming a cliche, rarely understood in its intensity. Hence, one of the greatest challenges that believers and unbelievers face alike is the challenge of controlling one’s tongue!
Would you believe that your words have the power to hurt & heal, divide & unite, curse & bless? But more important to us would be being able to control our speech in such a way that it brings out the kind of speech and language that God desires.
The scripture above talks of tongue as a different individual, a thing that we as human beings cannot control. Why is that so? How is it that this gift of speech and the power of words that God has blessed us with, turns out to be such a great problem for humanity? It is something that God had surely intended for good. How then can it be used so decivingly by the enemy?
This is how-
Before sin crept into Eden, Eve got into a conversation with satan, a conversation where she got deceived into disobeying and distrusting God!
That’s the same mistake most of us do. The gift of words and speech that God has given us is not to indulge in leisure talks with satan or with people around us. Its greatest purpose is for us to build a loving and honorable relationship with God and with one another.
Remember the fact that Jesus rebuked the storm, cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, all with His words, but at no point did He get into a conversation, debate or argument with satan. If Jesus didn’t find the enemy worthy enough to have a conversation with, why are we, His body, treating him any differently?
What are we conversing about? Who are we conversing with? Is it our situations and circumstances that we talk about and talk to? Have you been conversing with friends and people who have been negatively impacting your actions and decisions?
Here are some common things that if we expose our minds to, it can influence our everyday speech/words in a positive or negative way:
Television
- Movies
- Podcasts
- Newspapers
- Music
- Conversations with
- Family
- Friends
- Neighbours
- Church-mates
- Colleagues
- Social Media
- Chats and emails
- Books
Why don’t we go through the above list and find out the number of influences, and decide on a measure/process by which you can eliminate every negative source of wrong kinds of speech in your life?
Taming our tongue is something that will definitely take time and we will have to go through a season of pruning, improving, changing and moulding our speech behaviours. There are so many aspects and dimensions to this topic of taming our tongue, that we will be dealing with each of them in a series in the upcoming posts.
Guard every conversation and speech that you expose yourself too. Do not entertain anything that does not glorify God or edify people in or around you. That is how you can cut off the root of every wrong, negative and ungodly speech that comes from our tongues.
Put your eyes on Jesus and begin speaking His promises over your life. Surround yourself with godly friendshships and relationships that can help you pursue Him.
“Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.” 2 Timothy 2:22
This is only the first post of this series on Taming Your Tongue. If you have not yet subscribed to this blog, you can do it now to be notified of every post in this series. CLICK HERE to subscribe.
Dear Pastor Priji
Thanks for this post! Yes, a very good reminder and if we were not aware of it, and if we were not aware of it, a great lesson on the power of our words to either build or destroy.
Over the years, I have developed a routine that helps me keep my tongue in check and use it for what
God intended it to be used. Research says that it takes about 21 days to develop or form a new habit so I would encourage readers to give it a try and see if it works for them.
Besides my morning devotion/prayers, I use the time I brush my teeth in the morning to pray that the words come out of my mouth during the day would encourage and build people, that it will only be used to praise God and give Him all the glory due to him, that my words during the day will not hurt but heal, will not cause division but unity, will speak only the truth and not lies and so forth.
When I brush my teeth at night, I use that time to reflect on any words / conversations that I have had
during the day and see if I have kept to my goal. If I haven’t, which is quite often, I pray that I will not repeat those mistakes and learn from my errors.
Thanks again for your educational posts and keep up the good work.
God Bless
Gerard
Wow! Thanks for sharing. That’s a great way to keep a check on our words, morning and evening times of brushing the teeth! I like that. Praying that God would help us all to develop new habits that will glorify his name and surrender to his will.