01 - Taming the tongue

Whilst away on my first Impact training block we had to present a short study based on the book of James. Our group spoke on taming the tongue which features in particular in chapter three...I was priviledged to present the talk on behalf of our group in front of the other 50 Impacters. I will share what I said over the next three posts.

Firstly, speech and what we say is significant, and therefore we must be careful with the words we use incase we get miscontrued or misinterpretted, we read about this in James 3:3 -4 ...

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.'

For this reason I believe we should reserve only the best words for Jesus. We often describe God as 'amazing' or 'awesome' or 'fantastic' but how often do we use these same words to describe ordinary things which in reality, and in comparison to God, are not amazing, awesome or fantastic at all? Similarly we should identify exactly what we mean when we use specific words and phrases. For example we can describe a husband cheating on his wife (or vice versa)as an affair, what we really mean to say is that he is committing adultery...simply saying 'an affair' does not capture the full sense of the meaning. Every day I go about conducting my 'affairs' but not everyday do I commit adultery. Another example is that of 'sleeping together,' the full sense of the meaning we are trying to convey would best be described by saying 'fornication' or perhaps 'promiscuity.'

This year I am going to be consumed by 'doing things' and carrying out many tasks. I pray that this year won't only be a year where I impact people with my actions but with my words also.