The World According To Chris Brewer

I read James 3:1-13 in my Bible study this morning. Pretty powerful stuff.

Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything–or destroy it!

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue–it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

Personal notes:

It’s amazing how clearly James writes this. Obviously our words have some sort of power, and it’s pretty cut and dry here–we either build people up with what we say or we tear them down. And something I’ve been noticing the past couple days is people’s reactions to what I say. It’s simple–usually if I say something uplifting then it opens the door for good communication. But I can shut that door just as effectively by saying something derogatory.

Our words contain a power greater than anything we could ever imagine. Our words shape what people think of us–they show what we’re thinking, what we’re feeling, etc. There is another Bible verse that says “your mouth speaks what is in your heart.” Even if we (I, specifically here) talk without thinking, though we might not be THINKING what we say, it was still audible–people heard it, they processed it, and there you go.

I know I’m going to make a greater effort on what I say to others. Not only what I say, but being a good listener. That Bible study is coming up tomorrow.

Other personal opinions and comments are gladly welcomed.