The Tameless Tongue Series

You can tame a tiger, a lion, a leopard, a cheetah, and other wild animals, especially if you work with them from birth. But according the Bible, you cannot tame the human tongue. James wrote, "It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."

Then is the tongue a lost cause? No. Despite the destructive potential the Bible offers us no excuse for acquiescing to is evil (Eph. 4:29). Though you can not win the battle for the tongue in your own strength, God can give you victory over your tongue. When the tongue is surrender to God for His use He will give us the ability to control it and use it for His glory. The tongue cannot be tamed by man but can be tamed by God. The Holy Spirit will give us increasing power to monitor and control what we say the more we surrender its use to Him, so that even when we are offended the Spirit will remind us of God’s love, and we won’t react in a hateful manner. When we are criticized the Spirit will healingly touch the hurt and we will find the strength not to lash out. When you win the battle for the tongue it becomes a mighty tool for winning the lost and building up the people of God. The important thing, of course, is the heart for "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Mt. 12:34). If the heart is filled with hurt and hate satan will fire up the tongue. But if it is filled with love, God will use the tongue to light a fire like that of Pentecost where many were brought to a saving and sanctifying knowledge of Jesus Christ.

II. THE SHAMELESS TONGUE, (9-10).

Verse 9 addresses our irrational use of the tongue. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

Verse 9 states both the positive and negative use of the tongue. The tongue is notoriously inconsistent, a veritable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The positive use involves blessing or praising God. The word bless is literally saying a good word (eulogoumen) but in the context of Lord and Father, it means to praise Him with love and gratitude. This is the highest function of human speech, the great end for which the human tongue exists.

Cursing refers to the abuse language of a person usually arising from a loss of temper. It includes speech which is insulting as well as profane. To curse or wish evil (kata-rometha) to someone is in effect to curse God Himself. The reason given is because men are made in the likeness of God. Even though the image of God has been sadly fractured and clouded in man’s fallen state, James indicates that man still bears the likeness of God. To curse any person is to curse God’s image in that individual. This is equal to cursing God. This is a strong motivation not to use insulting or profane speech about anyone.

Our lives and our destiny are changed by words. A giant horse is turned around with a little bit in the mouth. A tremendous ship is guided by a little rudder. A vast inferno is set afire by a little spark. All of us have felt the sting of unkind words.

A GODLY QUAKER came up to her pastor and said, "Pastor, I think, and wonder if you do also, that if one lived beautifully and walked correctly and stayed away from evil that others seeing us would be inclined to love our religion?" The pastor replied, "Sister, if you covered yourself with a coat of feathers white as the driven snow, and if you had a pair of wings as shiny as those of the angel Gabriel, there would be somebody, somewhere so color-blind as to shoot you for a blackbird."