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TAMING THE TONGUE 09 15 2017 Taming the Tongue 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 The Message James 3 5 10 Have you ever wondered what makes people gossip Or what makes people be able to bless our Lord and Father and out of the same mouth curse people who are made in the likeness of God Well it s that ugly fall of man thing again sin Mankind is born with a sinful nature Everyone knows the damage that gossip can cause yet the gossip continues James warning of the untamed tongue often goes unheeded by mature and young Christians alike Because of the nature of mankind I think it is safe to conclude that at times we have all been guilty of it It is frightening to think that we can t tame a tongue it s never been done v 8 Yet for the good of others and of ourselves we have to control our tongue If James states that it has never been done then how do we go about taming it James gives us the key in Chapter 3 13 18 He tells us to live wisely and be humble He tells us not to have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts ESV v 14 2017 Bonnie C Clark All rights reserved

TAMING THE TONGUE 09 15 2017 The answer to controlling our tongue is by being careful of what is in our hearts If we do as the Great Commandment Matt 22 36 40 Mark 12 18 31 Luke 10 25 28 and love the Lord God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself then it should be much easier to control our tongue If we keep our minds on serving others and concern for others more than thinking only of ourselves then we have a chance at taming the tongue It is true that if we have the love of Jesus in our hearts then there is an outpouring of the love to other people It is then only natural to not want to hurt the ones we love by gossip telling lies about them spreading rumors or slandering them Jesus stated in John 13 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another ESV We never know what our good words about people will go and what will be accomplished by them Some of the good deeds that we do for people may not be seen but somewhere they have an impact Even if our good words and deeds do not have an earthly impact God sees and hears them The same is true with the wicked things we may say or do There is a story told by G Franklin Allee which tells the extreme of what starting a rumor can do They were a happy little family living in a small town in North Dakota even though the young mother had not been entirely well since the birth of her second baby But each evening the neighbors were aware of a warmth in their hearts when they would see the husband and father being met at the gate by his wife and two small children There was laughter in the evening too and when the weather was nice Father and children would romp together on the back lawn while Mother looked on with happy smiles Then one day a village gossip started a story saying that he was being unfaithful to his wife a story entirely without foundation But it eventually 2017 Bonnie C Clark All rights reserved

TAMING THE TONGUE 09 15 2017 came to the ears of the young wife and it was more than she could bear Reason left its throne and that night when her husband came home there was no one to meet him at the gate no laughter in the house no fragrant aroma coming from the kitchen only coldness and something that chilled his heart with fear And down in the basement he found the three of them hanging from a beam Sick and in despair the young mother had first taken the lives of her two children and then her own In the days that followed the truth of what had happened came out a gossip s tongue an untrue story a terrible tragedy Tan 1996 3 So the next time you are tempted to gossip remember what harm it has the potential of doing before you speak My Mother as I m sure many of yours did as well always told me to think before I speak Well there have certainly been times that I have miserably failed at that but as I mature in Christ I find it easier to do Hopefully you do too References Tan P L 1996 c1979 Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations a treasury of illustrations anecdotes facts and quotations for pastors teachers and Christian workers Garland TX Bible Communications 2017 Bonnie C Clark All rights reserved