Taming the Tongue

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be." James 3:9 & 10

Since each one of us have a tongue and each one of us use it either for good or bad; we can all admit we are guilty of abusing the very organ God has created to be used for His glory.  The very organ that is to be used to praise the God of heaven is used to tear people down.  And the Lord is grieved.  

We were brought with a hefty price, with the blood of the Lamb, yet we view each other as not worthy of God's sacrifice, for humanity, by the usage of our words.  We call ourselves Christians and yet we turn people away by our foolishness of speech.  In all honesty, we do not deserve to take up the name "Christian" but God is forgiving and merciful enough to still consider us His children.

Yet we have no excuse to slash the hearts of men and women and children by our harsh, judgmental, condemning speech.  Every day we must surrender our tongues, our speech to the Lord and ask Him to guard our lips from speaking anything that will hurt or damage a human being.

"Set a guard over my mouth,Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips." Psalms 141:3

We are not perfect, yes, I realize that.  But God is asking for complete surrender of our hearts to Him and that includes our tongue!  May the Lord teach us how to speak and what to say in any circumstance or situation we may be part of.

    "It pains me to say that there are unruly tongues among church members. There are false tongues that feed on mischief. There are sly, whispering tongues. There is tattling, [unsuitable] meddling, [cunning] quizzing. Among the lovers of gossip some are [arouse] by curiosity, others by jealousy, many by hatred against those through whom God has spoken to reprove them. All these [inharmonious] elements are at work. Some conceal their real [motives], while others are eager to publish all they know, or even suspect, of evil against another."1
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1 TESTIMONIES FOR THE CHURCH VOLUME 5, PAGE 94