Living and Dying Over Words
Can the tongue be tamed?
We think we disagree on religion or politics – but these are just words, representation of complex ideas.
The same with the word God.
We even argue and debate about whether or not the word God deserves capitalization, which is one of our ways of implying how important or even real the word is to us.
Every argument, every disagreement, every conflict involves words - which stand for physically identifiable things - like food, money and borders, as well as mental constructs like law, liberty, food, money and borders.
We think we are on the right side of all our arguments, which provides us justification to fight with conviction – or secretly, we know we are fighting to take something that doesn’t belong to us.
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
James 3:7-10 (ESV)
When I worked with special needs folks, we were trained on how important it is to choose your words wisely. Tone of voice, volume, gestures and even facial expressions are all part of what you say. I have found that the closer I draw to the Lord, the more I want to glorify Him in thought ,WORD and deed. It is a challenge I work towards on a day-to-day basis. With the grace of God, I have at least seen some improvement and continue to try to do better