Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
11/21 Reading Portions: 1 Chronicles 16; James 3; Obadiah 1; Luke 5
James 3:5
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
WORDS
Our words carry great power. James uses two vivid illustrations to convey this— like the bit in a horse’s mouth (Jas 3:3) and the rudder in the stern of a ship (Jas 3:4). God, in whose image we are created, created the heavens and the earth with His spoken word. With our words we can heal, encourage, and edify. With our words we can also hurt, tear down, and destroy. With our words we can exhibit the witness and exaltation of Christ. At the same time, our words may reveal our hypocrisy and shame if they do not line up with our behavior. So serious are our words that those called to teach and preach the excellency of Christ’s kingdom by word of mouth are warned of being judged by the Lord in that Day…
with a greater strictness. James 3:1
Our speech is an area where we all struggle because…
no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. James 3:8
Nevertheless, God has given us two amazing graces to overcome the tongues debauchery and depravity— the written Word and the risen Word. First, as we are daily in God’s Word, submissive to its content because we behold “the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein,” we, being forgetful hearers but doers of the work of the Word, will be blessed in our deeds (Jas 1:25, KJV). The Word that abides in us will produce fruit unto God’s glory, through Christ’s exaltation (John 15:4). Second, with our words we confess daily to the crucified, risen, and ascended Word of God, Jesus Christ, that we are weak and only strong in Him; that He must empower us to speak as the oracles of God (1 Pet 4:11), else from “the same mouth come blessing and cursing,” which “ought not to be so” (Jas 3:10). Powerful are our words. Perverse can they be. But more powerful is our Christ and His eternal Word of Promise. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Lord Jesus, put a check upon
The words from my poor tongue;
May they exalt and praise Your name
To elder folk and young.
