The Taming of the Tongue

6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

today i read James chapter 3. the selected verses above make me wish i could not speak at all, then i wouldn't have to worry about not being able to tame my evil tongue. James 3 goes into further details about being a teacher and how teachers are held to a higher standard and how they will be held to a higher accountability for every word that is said. he says not to presume to be a teacher because of these things. i am a teacher in sorts, as a disciple of the Lord anointed by the Holy Spirit i am a teacher. i do not presume to be a teacher in the church, but as head of my household i am a teacher to aria and to lyndsey. as a worship leader called by God i am a teacher to all those under my authority in the worship team. i am a teacher. so it is unavoidable i am a teacher held to a higher standard because when i use my tongue people listen. but, how can i speak now that i've read this verse. if the tongue is a world of evil in my body set on fire by hell itself i don't want to speak. i don't want the corrupt vision of my evil world coming out instead of the praises of my Almighty. so i have decided not to speak in an attempt to tame the tongue. for if i do not speak then none can find fault in what i say.

though i wish not to speak i still write, the words will never cease to flow whether from my mouth or from my finger tips. the words come, i could just as easily write curses of my fellow brothers than i could say them. i could just as easily write songs of praise with my hands as sing them. so how then do i stop the use of my evil tongue?

James says that the tongue is untamable. Paul says that the flesh is always warring inside of you.

i must take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. that is the only way to win against this invincible tongue of evil. not only every thought but also every action, every thing done in the day needs to, no must be, taken captive and made obedient. we must as a whole remain in Him so that He can remain in us. by that, good will be inside of us, and how can good and evil abide together? in Mathew 12 Jesus tells this to the pharisees.

35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

if the tongue is untamable then how do we keep this evil from boiling up and spilling over from inside us even while we praise our Lord? we must then speak only what the Father tell us to and all other times we must remain silent. so in a sense we must become mute and our fingers become numb unable to hold even a pencil or feel the keys on the keyboard. only then will we be available to be spoken through or have our hands flow with the words of the Lord. together we should pray that our evil tongue from hell itself should be cut out, that our stone hearts where our flesh resides should be removed and replaced with the Word and a Spirit filled heart. only then will we "tame the tongue" and keep the evil inside from coming forth.