Sunday Devo - June 1, 2025

Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
See how great a forest a little fire kindles!  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.  For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.  But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  [James 3:5-8]

James pulls no punches in his warning about the power of the tongue, likening it to the rudder on a ship. We are all familiar, due to firsthand experience, how damaging words can be, especially when they are delivered with a tone and posture that is not intended to edify. What are we to do, then, in light of these things? I think the key to controlling the tongue, is to live a Spirit filled life- seeking especially that fruit of the Spirit- temperance, which is self-control.

To counter the warnings in James, we can be encouraged by reading about words that are used to diffuse anger, which we find in Proverbs 15 verse 1: “A soft word turns away wrath…” Or, how words that are chosen and shared at the right time can be so welcome, as illustrated in Proverbs 25 verse 11: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”

-Roy