I read the words:
"but no human being can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil,
full of deadly poison."(James3:8)
I'm a visual person
so I Googled images (to illustrate the action).
I saw lots of duct tape, zippers, and whips!
But honestly none of those were very practical!
Would God give us impractical frustrating Words?
Well, if it brought us to a place of asking Him for help,
Yes.
It's not the first time an impossible request was made by God.
Really?
How about:
"Be perfect as I am perfect" -Jesus Mtt5:48
'Be holy, because I the LORD your God, am holy." ~God Lv19:2
"You must be blameless before the LORD your God." Du 18:13
So are we really able to tame our tongue, or be perfect, or be holy or blameless?!
Well, yes...and no.
James gives us some really great help with the tongue taming,
He says "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry".
Part of taming our tongue, is just not blurting out whatever comes to mind!
And to be honest,
you might not think being holy, blameless and perfect
has anything to do with taming your tongue.
Oh, but it does.
Sadly, or maybe it's a good thing,
out of the mouth,
comes the overflow of the heart.
And God judges the heart
(the place he is knocking at the door of)
(desiring to be invited in).
So how do we tame our tongue
(if not by duct tape, zippers and whips)
Should we use gritted teeth, white knuckles and sheer will power?
Lock ourselves away in isolation?!
Well, fasting words (for a season)
may be beneficial,
but in truth, we must ask Jesus to come in
and help us.
Ask that his spirit would cleans and heal our heart.
If our heart is the well spring of the soul,
and pouring out of our mouth is deadly poison,
then we must shock the well!
Simply put,
repent from the sin that resides
within,
replace lies we have believed with truth
(found in the Bible)
And ask for the Lord to help us.
If you get stuck,
ask a Christian who's a little farther down the path than you.
We all have our share of sinful trials
we are all in process.
About being holy, blameless and perfect,
the point is (and always was)
that this is the unwavering standard.
The only way to attain this state
is to accept the sacrifice of Jesus
in our place.
He is our only hope.
He makes us holy,
He makes us perfect
(washing us with His own blood),
and He makes us blameless,
taking all the blame on his own shoulders
for our redemption.
God bless you as you wrestle with
(and meditate on) this truth.
And if I may serve you (in any way),
please do me the honor of asking.
