THE TONGUE

A ship’s passenger heard that it had developed a fault and she insisted on seeing the captain who said the rudder had broken.  “Well,” she said, “I’m glad that it’s nothing worse than that.”  “Nothing worse than that!  There’s nothing worse than having a big ship in mid-ocean that can’t be steered!”

The Apostle James said that although our tongues are tiny like the rudder of a ship, they control the whole of our lives.  Just as a small spark starts an enormous fire, so our tongue can be set on fire by hell!  When hell becomes our helmsman our tongues inflict enormous damage as they blaze away with gossip, lies and filthy language.  If we think these things of minor importance, we are like the lady who underestimated the seriousness of a broken rudder.  The Captain however knew otherwise, and so does God!

James tells us that although man can tame many kinds of animals he can never tame an unruly tongue.  The cleaning up of a person’s speech is one of the first signs that God has started to work in their soul.  The famous John Bunyan tells us that at one time his language was very bad but when he began to turn to Christ it was as if God set a sentinel at the door of his lips to cut off the impure words before they came out.

The only person who never said anything wrong in His entire life was the Lord Jesus.  His silence was also most impressive.  James says that anyone who does not sin with their tongue is perfect.  Jesus was perfect so He could die instead of us at Calvary and pay the penalty our sins deserve.  [ Read James chapter 3 ]