James 3:1-12

¹ Dear brothers and sisters,^[a] not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. ³ We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. ⁴ And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. ⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. ⁶ And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.^[b] 7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. ¹⁰ And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! ¹¹ Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? ¹² Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.^[c]

Ever heard the phrase or someone say be careful what you say or wish for? I have for sure, sometimes we don’t always realize it, but it’s quite common. Sometimes it can be our actions but more so it starts out with our words most of the time. These verse are obviously talking about controlling the tongue by watching what we say. At times we can say things that are hurtful and mean to others and sometimes taking God’s name in a bad way too, like using the Lord’s name in vain, cussing name calling and just being rude and defiant towards people too for the wrong reasons. This can happen when we or someone is being corrected for doing wrong at times and the one being corrected may not always say or do the nicest things, sometimes but not always. Holding grudges can cause mean things to be said or done, ect. That can at times bring a person down and hurt. There are times also our words can be helpful to one another by encouraging them and lifting each other up, and aas well towards God by praising, worshiping, giving Him glory, ect. Our words can be effective from building someone up to knocking them down.

The phrase be careful what you say or wish for can go both ways. Onetime at work I was talking about schedules and programs with a staff. There were some changes on hers for some days with the person we work with and on my schedule there weren’t too many changes. Most of my schedule was the same deal for most of the day, and I kiddingly said “aww  mine don’t say anything much different, maybe I will have to sub for you on a day I normally don’t work”. Well to my surprise unexpectedly, but notified ahead of time my work schedule had changed! I was asked to cover for the staff I was chatting about with program changes because she was sick all week!! I was like dang I should be careful what I say sometimes!! But I did say yes I’ll work after giving some thought, because 1. I understand when you’re sick it’s hard finding a sub at the last minute and 2. It’s helping someone out and 3. Extra cash on my paycheck that can be helpful in the long run of things!

That scenario wasn’t that bad, it was rather more of a helpful statement, but just think if it wasn’t that great it wouldn’t have been much help to anyone. Sometimes it can be hard to think before we say something or think before we do something, such as rumors and gossip can really hurt a person for long periods of time. We are human and not perfect, I know I’ve been on both ends of the stick, not by spreading gossip and rumors, but just sometimes my actions may have whether I meant to or not, or the tone of my voice, or name calling. Sometimes mean thoughts when you feel mad at people. I know people have done so at me as well, whether they have meant to or not. It can also comes down to how a person takes things as well. Some people takes things too seriously which makes it harder for them to forgive and some are easy going which would be easier to forgive. We should try our best to use our words and actions carefully because it can save us and others from a long hardship of hurt.