Life and death
James said
“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. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.” He had just finished the analogy of a horse being controlled by a small bit
James, the brother of Jesus was very direct in this chapter talking about the power of the tongue. He used two metaphors that could be related to by the land minded people and the sea driven individuals. He wrote that mankind is not perfect and will stumble. I’m sure having a deity as a brother, he understood quite well the difference in a perfect life and not.
Andy Stanley said about this scripture and the tongue as it related to the human body, it is a “small part, big influence”. It has the power to control your destiny. Words that are spoken can create relationships, fights, wars, contracts, divorce and a host of decisions. Speaking/engaging the wrong person can change your trajectory. Once words are out of the mouth, it’s like toothpaste out of the tube; it can’t go back in. And the reality is, the tongue is one of hardest things to tame. Like a small match, it has the ability to create an entire forest fire. Forest fires are often accidental, but the unfortunate thing is, once a forest fire has erupted, all that is left is scorched earth. Jesus himself said in Matthew “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person”. The writer in Proverbs said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” So, the equation of what comes out of the mouth starts with what we put into the heart.
The connectivity of the heart and the mouth are like a ship engine and its utter. Like the small utter on a ship, the tongue has the power to control your destiny, the direction of your life. And usually when a negative word is uttered, it takes multiple positive words to counter-balance the weight of a single negative word. When a ship sails in the wrong direction, it takes a significant course correction for the destiny of the ship to be righted.
So, coming from a person who is an extravert and who has never minded talking, I am personally going to try better and take to heart the advice of James in his first chapter where he said “be quick to listen and slow to speak.
Remember what the writer in Proverbs 18 said, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Think about the power you wield.
