9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
James 3:9-10
This is the blog post I didn’t want to write from a verse of scripture I really did not want to read. I have probably read this verse 100 times in my life. Some verse take on new shape and meaning. This one is like a boxer, it just keeps hitting you in the same spot, right in the mouth. James, the brother of Jesus, penned this part of scripture to the 12 tribes of believers scattered about. Piecing together context, it makes your wonder what was being said. It is more comfortable to question what was coming out of the mouths of first-century Jewish Christians then take reflective look at my own lips.
In the past year, it seems as our “freedom of speech” has been equated as a freedom to say anything you want without regard for anyone else. Before you take this as a personal affront, just know, I have been no better. While my words may have never graced the pages of Facebook or succinctly worded in tweets, I said them. I spoke harsh, critical, unkind words. I said them in the privacy of my house. I recited them in my mind as if trying to keep them prisoner inside my mouth. Nonetheless, they were said and thought.
Words are sweet like honey and can be like the poison of a snake. Words are nourishment to our souls and daggers to our hearts. Words, seemingly innocent in the circumstance is the weapon of choice we so often choose. While I have whispered prayers and shouted praise, I have spoken harsh of leaders, family, and people I will never meet. Even if you never heard the words, I said them and I am accountable to God for saying them.
I think I am more amazed at how we treat words like disposable diapers. They get filled with filth and stench and then throw away as if we was said had no consequence or affect. Sitting somewhere in the heart and mind of someone else are those disgusting, hurtful words we said, typed, tweeted, and wrote. As believers, then we turn around and expect those same ears to hear our declarations of a good God who loves them. As James says, “this is should not be so.”
For the words you never heard me speak, I am sorry. As a follower of Jesus, my hope is to shape the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart to be pleasing to him. That comes at the cost of controlling my tongue and my thoughts.
So friends let’s be more honey than vinegar. Let’s offer hope and instead of the sting of sarcasm. Let’s shout with joy instead of anger. Let your love be known by what you say, because what you say was birthed in your heart.
