02 - Taming the tongue

The second point that I made at the Impact training day was the fact that speech is contagious. I read this predominantly in James 3: 5 - 6:

"Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."

The very fact that speech is contagious is an important reason we need to be careful what we say. If we criticise, we will breed more criticism. If we are cynical, we will breed more cynicism. If we are sarcastic, we will breed more sarcasm. If we are jealous, we will breed more jealousy...and so we can continue. Indeed Proverbs 16:27 says 'a scoundrel plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.'

In Chapter 3:9 it says that from the same tongue come cursing and blessing, and here I believe the real application takes root. In taming the tongue we should not just omit cursing, but bring forth blessing. Do we want to become contagious 'blessers' or contagious 'cursers'? Do we want to be people who contagiously spread ecnouragement and the building of one another up, or insted bring forth discouragement and the crushing of people's spirit?