Issue 785 – What’s on Your…? – June 24, 2022
This morning I remembered an old television commercial. For several years, a credit card company ran a highly successful series of ads featuring a horde of rampaging barbarians charging at modern-day people. When the attacked person opens their wallet, the barbarians stop their charge and leave disappointed.
The barbarians are representative of high interest costs and fees, and the implication is that with that particular credit card, the fees and charges are much lower than the competition. When the horde disburses, you hear the advertising slogan, “What’s in your wallet?”.
This morning, I want to play off that imagery.
What’s on your tongue?
The tongue is a powerful tool. With it, we can unleash things far more destructive to others than rampaging hordes of barbarians or bring forth blessings beyond measure. Our tongues can wound in ways that physical pain can never match.
The old children’s saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” is a lie. Many people have been emotionally and spiritually stunted, virtually destroyed by unkind words. A bruise or broken bone usually heals relatively quickly. The invisible wounds left by an unkind word may never heal.
I confess that sometimes the barbarians take my tongue. The subject turns to politics, and I can quickly mock. I hit my finger with a hammer or spill something making a colossal mess, and the barbarians escape. I get angry, and cruel, barbaric words escape.
It happens less than it used to, but more often than I would care to admit. Even as a supposedly mature Christian, the barbarian hordes are too quickly loosed. I repent, and the Lord readily forgives. I apologize and am forgiven. Yet, still, the damage has been done.
It feels much better when my mouth opens, and words of blessing and encouragement come flying out. If the negative comments are barbarians, I suppose the positive words could be likened to heavenly warriors.
We don’t have two tongues; the barbarians and the heavenly warriors tread the same ground. Our tongue wounds and heals depending on how we use it. We cannot blame others for the words that come out of our mouths, nor do we get to take the credit. The nasty words stem from our sin, and the good ones from the power of the Spirit at work in us.
There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18
If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, 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 things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. James 3:3-12
The unbridled tongue is nasty, and James rightly points out that it runs uncontrolled under our power. Yet, as Christians, we are new creations, indwelt by Christ and Holy Spirit. With their help, we can make our tongue something that brings blessings rather than curses.
Until next time, before you speak, think about what is on your tongue. May springs of blessing flow from your mouth.
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed
Kevin.
Gleanings From The Word.
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (for the glory of God alone.)
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