Reading: James 3:1-12
Speaker: Paul McCabe
Thoughts on Wise Living
I have a confession to make. As a teenage boy I was drawn to fire. I went above and beyond to acquire matches, lighters, kindling, cardboard. Anything and everything that made a flame or might combust.
I was that member of our little gang forever striking matches or gathering sticks to burn in the woods. It was all fun and games … until suddenly it wasn’t. A game we called “firefighters” got out of hand. Summer had come early and the challenge of lighting small grass fires and quickly stomping them out got away from us.
What started as a dumb distraction with matches was almost a disaster. The whole field nearly went up in roaring fire, putting people’s very real homes and very real businesses in very real danger. As James tells us in his letter, one tiny spark had almost set a great forest ablaze (James 3:5).
We often overlook small actions in our Christian life. We think big mistakes, big sins, are the only ones that truly matter. But James says otherwise. He knows that faith is walked step-by-step, one foot in front of the other. And why do these small actions matter? Because too many of us seek to be teachers.
We long to advise our brothers and sisters, the saved and the lost, when we ourselves are spiritually adrift. Even if no major sins stain our lives, James has already shown how “the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws” (James 2:10)? So, what are we doing trying to teach others with a tongue that we ourselves cannot tame?
As I weighed what to write about this well-known part of James, I went back and listened to my old pastor’s sermon on this passage. His preaching was sound. He went line-by-line through the text, weaving James’ argument down relevant avenues of Scripture. He referenced Paul and Jude’s warnings to church teachers. He dipped into Jeremiah and the deceitfulness of man’s heart. It all rang true, but something was missing …
Then it hit me. My old pastor was so focused on the peril of lying, gossiping, and cursing tongues that he only spent 5 minutes on the wonderful flipside. His warnings were accurate but there was far more shadow than light. I agree with James that “people can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue” (James 3:7-8). I know that my redeemed tongue “sometimes praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God” (3:9). I know all this to my shame.
And yet, there is hope! Let us not lose sight of that. While our tongues struggle to praise more than curse, highlighting our saved-yet-sinning nature, the tongue is also an instrument made by God for good. Otherwise, how could we “rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)? Do you hear that? This is no simple suggestion by Paul, but God’s very will for our tongues!
My Christian life is a daily walk. When the days are hard, I pray that it was more a sprint than a marathon. My soul grows weary from the choices I make and the temptations I fall into. But James wants us to see the good fruit in our lives in order to know the righteous root that nourishes us. Bind yourself to that holy root and God will tame your tongue, a little at first, then more and more each day.