James 3: 1-18 When You Open Your Mouth

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%203:1-18&version=65

In the 17th century, an English poet, Alexander Pope, wrote “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”.

In this office of about 40 people on any given day we have individuals that are quick to verbalize a thought, sometimes a half baked thought?!, while others say very little and seldom commit their thoughts to spoken words until there has been much consideration leading to a sense of rightness about what is to be spoken. I know all too well the challenges faced with quick responses.

Another author of the 17th century, Blaise Pascal said “Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men’s souls and a beautiful image it is.”

Both of these writers provide a lot of food for thought. Pascal talks of the positive impact we can have. We can make other people good-natured. Kind words produce a beautiful image on a person’s soul. I’m not sure I fully understand what he meant with that but it seems to infer that we can influence the inner being of others in a positive sense by looking for kind words that build up.

Illustration: The health care professional that looks into the back of the eye to diagnose our health. The person whose blood pressure or sugar levels indicate their success or failure in meeting their personal health challenges. Well, it would seem quite evident that God has given a tool to bring a person’s soul condition to the surface. It is a self examination tool as much as it is something that might signify a need for consideration by others. Like it or not, what we say and how we say it does influence how others evaluate us.

James, in this book that seems to be so practical cautions us, particularly those who find talking to be so natural. He says teachers, those who are ready to tell others what to do, incur a stricter judgement by God. That has always scared the living daylights out of me.

The words we speak, according to Jesus, have very special significance. At one point in His ministry he confronted the religious leaders “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”

In Matt. 15:17 Jesus teaches Peter and His disciples when they ask Him to explain a statement in the Old Testament by Isaiah. Jesus said “Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man”.

Gossip, a verbal cancer, can eat away at trust, goodwill and encouragement. It needs to be stopped in its tracks and removed as a means of communication. The obligation is for the potential listener as much as it is for the person who has fallen into the habit of relating negative hunches, rumours and personal attitudes.

Some of you will know of family members or good friends who have had their reputation destroyed through innuendo and seeds of revenge planted in the minds of others. James says that an unbridled tongue “is a restless evil and full of deadly poison” He points out that a spring cannot pour out sweet water and bitter water from the same source.

So what does this say about me? Jesus said my words give insights about my soul…the kind of person I am as I speak.

The last two verses of this chapter are worthy of being taken as a guide for our relationships. “But the wisdom from God is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

Noel