That Little Tongue!

This evening our church’s midweek study will focus on James 3:1-12. This passage discusses the power of the spoken word. Although the tongue is a small body part, it has enormous potential for good or evil. We can choose to speak words that build others up or words that tear others down.

Strange, isn’t it, how harmful words can destroy a life and even a church? Gossip, negative criticism, and lies can wreck a person’s reputation or a church’s reputation. As a matter of fact, unwholesome, vindictive words can tarnish even God’s reputation. A verbal brawl at a congregational business meeting can reverberate through the community and cause residents to question what kind of God so-called Christians worship.

It seems to me we Christians enhance God’s reputation in the eyes of non-Christians if we speak well of one another and of God too. In Ephesians 1:3 Paul wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our word “blessed” in this verse combines two Greek words, one meaning good and the other meaning to speak. Therefore, the act of blessing God is that of speaking a good word for God.

Perhaps we can speak a good word for God today to a neighbor or to a coworker or to a family member or to a fellow church member. What you say may be just what that person needs to hear.

I learned recently that a fellow classmate at Moody, who graduated with me in 1957, is an avowed atheist. He uses a blogsite to deny God’s existence and to vilify the God of the Bible. Please pray for him.