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Pray first

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:17:00 UTC +0100

‘Speak to me, Lord. Silence me so that I may hear your words.’

James 3:1–18

‘With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.’

James 3:1–18

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:16:00 UTC +0100

James 3

Taming the Tongue

¹ Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² We all stumble in many ways. Those who are never at fault in what they say are perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The 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 one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by human beings, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

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. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Main point

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:15:00 UTC +0100

Words and wisdom

‘50 homes threatened’

‘200 children taken to shelters’

‘190 people evacuated’

‘5 planes and 4 helicopters used to drop water’

Those were the headlines from a news story in May 2008 about fires in California. One spark. One moment of carelessness. Millions of pounds’ worth of damage.

Most of us can still remember harsh things that were said to us when we were children. It’s simply not true that ‘words will never hurt me’. How can we keep our tongues under control so that we don’t ‘burn’ others? James gives three practical suggestions.

• Control our thoughts (vs 14,16). If we are always thinking badly of others, always thinking about how hard done by we are, then sooner or later it will come out in the words we say.

• Channel our behaviour (v 13). The more we are practically involved in loving others the less we are likely to be running them down verbally.

• Covet spiritual wisdom (vs 17,18). It’s great to read the Bible, whether on WordLive or in print, but reading’s not enough. There needs to be a desire, a passion to allow God’s Word to change us. That’s what real wisdom is – God’s Word shaping our thoughts, our behaviour, our tongues, our lives.

Mike Law

Daily question

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:14:00 UTC +0100

Have you ever been caught up in a forest fire of criticism or gossip? Is your own tongue tamed – or out of control?

No gossiping

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:13:00 UTC +0100

Monastic silence

Silence is rated so highly by Benedict, founder of the monastic order of that name, that in his Rule, he declares sin is inevitable if monks are allowed to chat:

‘So important is silence that permission to speak should seldom be granted … because it is written: “In a flood of words you will not avoid sin” (Proverbs 10:19).’

Set apart

Those in positions of authority (v 1) have a particular responsibility to speak and act with integrity. It’s scary to realise just how much damage can be done by one careless word or an injudicious comment about someone else.

Not many Christians are called to be so obviously ‘set apart’ as a monk or a nun, but it is interesting to reflect on the benefits of ‘holding one’s peace’.

Sweet words

The tongue is a very small part of the body (v 5) but James says there is something wrong at the heart of a person who tries to use their words to wound as well as to heal (vs 9–12).

When we speak, therefore, our inspiration should not be worldly wisdom – which is ‘earthly, unspiritual, demonic’ (v 15). Rather, we should speak ‘as one who speaks the very words of God’ (1 Peter 4:11).

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said: ‘Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.’

Venetia Horton

To heal or to curse?

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:12:00 UTC +0100

Potential for evil and good

The psalms are full of references to how the tongue works for good or for evil – for example, contrast Psalm 10:7 and Psalm 37:30. But it has to be said that in the Old Testament its ability to inflict evil seems to feature more strongly.

The tongue is responsible for:

• curses (Psalm 10:7)

• boasting (Psalm 12:3)

• slander (Psalm 15:3)

• deceit (Psalm 50:19)

• destruction (Psalm 52:2)

• flattery (Proverbs 28:23)

It is compared to:

• a sharpened razor (Psalm 52:2)

• sharp swords (Psalm 57:4)

• a consuming fire (Isaiah 30:27)

• a bow to shoot lies (Jeremiah 9:3)

• a deadly arrow (Jeremiah 9:8)

• choice silver (Proverbs 10:20)

• milk and honey (Song of Solomon 4:11)

With the tongue one can:

• speak what is just (Psalm 37:30)

• bring healing (Proverbs 12:18)

• crush the spirit (Proverbs 15:4)

• use the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21)

• pass God’s words on to his people (Isaiah 28:11)

• sustain the weary (Isaiah 50:4)

And yet through all this one thing must be remembered: God knows what you are going to say before you do! ‘Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely’ (Psalm 139:4).

Venetia Horton

Series overview: submitting to God

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:11:00 UTC +0100

We’re back in James again this week with a whole lot more practical advice. The over-arching theme is all about submitting to God, something that we probably all find difficult but that James is quite clear about. On Saturday and Sunday we’ll wander off to have a quick look at Job 42 and Psalm 52.

Our contributors to WordLive this week:

Simon Baynes was a mission partner in

Japan

for 16 years, and now lives in Thame, Oxfordshire. An enthusiastic writer and poetry lover, he is a long-term member – and currently administrator – of the Association of Christian Writers.

Jon Birch is a freelance animator, designer, illustrator and music producer. He describes himself as ‘someone who makes a living out of what he used to do in the margins of his school books’. Jon is a co-founder and contributor of proost.co.uk, a site dedicated to providing creative resources for the church. ‘Working with Scripture Union brings me daily to a point of engaging with the roots of my faith. I find the work enjoyable and often stimulating.’

Cornerhouse Productions are made up of husband and wife team, Andy and Wendy Green, who take our podcasts from words on a page to what they end up as, including writing the music that goes behind them. They live in Manchester with their four children and attend Bury Christian Fellowship where they lead worship. As well as working on independent projects they also produce a large and diverse range of albums for clients such as Kingsway, Authentic and others around the world.

James Davies works for the Open University as a media project manager. He is married to Karen and they are part of a Newfrontiers church in Milton Keynes. They have two young, rambunctious sons called Samuel and Benjamin, not much peace and quiet, and drink a lot of coffee.

Venetia Horton is a writer, journalist and gardener who lives in Oxfordshire with her husband Chris. She has one grown-up daughter. A passion for travel has taught her that, despite the infinite variety of human life, everyone is seeking for the same thing: a place to call home.

Mike Law runs the Christian Resources Project – a schools ministry and resource centre – which he founded over 25 years ago. He is an elder in a Baptist church, preaches regularly in a variety of churches, and runs training courses for children’s workers and small-group leaders. He is married to Lin and they have two grown-up sons.

Dave Maclure lives in Natal, tries to speak Portuguese, teaches English, is a husband to Rachel and a Dad to Nelson and TBC, writes on his blog, likes Brazilian weather, football, food and music, and loves Jesus.

Group discussion

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:10:00 UTC +0100

Want to talk about today’s passage? Share some thoughts about what you’ve read, seen or heard? Has it left you with further questions? Or do you disagree with what has been said?

Head to the WordLive forums to join the discussion online, or check out the small group programme.

Topical thoughts

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:09:00 UTC +0100

The power of words…

Words are frighteningly powerful, and have a way of persisting for a long time. So David Cameron’s Conservative Party Conference speech gets picked over afterwards by the media. Like those of other public figures, his words will stay on the file for journalists to return to in the future and use as they wish.

Meanwhile the US Vice Presidential candidates spent days away from the campaign training for their public debate. For both it wasn’t just about how to say the right thing. It was also about not saying the wrong thing since both of them have a record of public gaffes. But then again, who hasn’t?

It’s not only our unwise words which can be painful. The lies and half truths of others do lasting damage. Sadly, for one Cornish vicar, slanders and lies have turned into terrifying death threats ¹.

All of this is alongside what is for many a deeply worrying economic situation. What will it do to our plans for the future? Or might we learn to be wary of making plans? Unfortunately, some (usually the already rich) have made millions from the misfortune of others, almost bringing down banks such as HBOS.

After all that, these readings from James begin to look strangely contemporary, yet offer a different way to live. Has the world really learnt a lot in 2000 years?

Emlyn Williams

October 2008

¹http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7648923.stm