James 3
Bible Passage: James 3
Before I knew Christ, I was still in my teens and was mixing around with some bad companies, and my speeches were really bad.
I think “bad” is too mild a description for those words that usually came out of my mouth, I should use the word “atrociously vulgar and evil”, because when people hurt my feelings, I would not only curse them, even their parents would be dragged into my line of fire!
After Jesus called me into His fold, and thinking back to those times, I really regretted and often felt ashamed of my actions and words towards others.
This is exactly why when I read this chapter of James, it reminds me of my past and warns me of my present dealings with others; and especially now that God has given me such grace that I can be in His workforce.
Bible Passage: James 3
Our mouths are used for processing food before they are being swallowed into our stomach for further processing to get the nutrients for our bodies.
But our mouth is not a good organ to process our words before they are being spoken.
Our Lord said,
Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach
and is eliminated?
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile
a man.
Matthew 15: 17 – 18
God created man good, so whatever God has but together to form our body, they are good and beneficial for us, so we have to make full and good use of them.
God has created and given us a wonderful brain that scientists took many years to study and to understand it’s functions; but there are still functions that some parts of the brain is performing do puzzle and amaze scientists.
The brain can be a good processor of our thoughts that may be passed to the mouth to be spoken, so before we want to speak, let our words go through our brain, and then also allow it to go through our heart to see if they are all right to be spoken.
Words that are spoken are like water being thrown out of a pail onto the ground that cannot be collected back again. So before regrets grip us, think twice, thrice or even four times before we let them come out of our mouths.
I’m very sure that all of us know that it is important to bridle our tongues, but many a times we let our emotions or anger get the better of us, and we shoot from our hips.
It is good to be frank and direct, but we must also care for the feelings of others. As what is being stated,
For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
James 3: 16 – 17
We must be mindful of our words and our listeners. If we contend that we have all the rights to speak whatever we feel like speaking, to express ourselves in a way that we seem to know more than others; and to defend for the ideals that we hold on to without giving a thought for others’ feelings, then we have fallen into the category of being “self-seeking”.
We have to do our spiritual nurturing daily so that we can be sensitive to the feelings of others. For through our spiritual nurturing, we can receive wisdom from above to be peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Bridling our tongue is no easy task, but we still have to do it as this pleases our God, and also refines our personality especially as followers of our Lord Jesus.
Let us all put in our effort in this matter, and may God continue to bless us with heavenly wisdom in dealing with our words, so that we can speak edifications to others, thus glorifying God.
Shalom