Taming the Tongue

Well, we are still studying James on Sunday mornings and we finally made it to chapter 3, the one on Taming the Tongue. What a perfect dovetail with the focus I have for this year on spoken blessings. 

If the standard for our words is Ephesians 4:29, which says: 
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen

And James 3 says this:

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

Then I think I should do this:

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.. . 

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. (verses from James 1)

I should let nothing exit my lips that will not accomplish His purposes. Period. 

Ouch. I have not been careful enough with my words. Our pastor made a comment yesterday that resounded for me: "There's nothing wrong with having nothing to say, unless we say it." 

And to take this subject further, I started thinking about our words.

During all those posts on spoken blessings, a sweet reader asked me a very interesting question. As we were discussing the power of our spoken words to accomplish the Lord's purposes, she asked me if I thought that our world was so spiritually dark because of all the curses spoken these days. That really got me to thinking about our job to be salt and light. If our words do have power in the spiritual realm to bring about victories and changed lives, are we missing a larger use that is available to us as His Body??

Can we, by actively speaking aloud blessings for our children, our spouses, our neighbors, our friends, our enemies, those in public office, etc., beat back the darkness? Have we truly understood the ramifications of the power of spoken words? Or have we let an incredibly powerful spiritual weapon lie unused, collecting dust while the evil one spurs his servants on to spew forth curses and lies, spreading darkness, deepening darkness.

What if we decide to actively, daily speak blessings? Will it change things? Will it change me? Will it change those I bless? What if the answer is "YES"? Do we realize what that could mean? Can we continue to keep silent? Or must we be compelled to speak blessings? Must we cultivate a culture around us of intentionally spoken blessings? 

Linking up to Michelle's blog today. You should check it out.