If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. (James 1:26, NIV)
Every golfer leaves the course thinking about the good shots, yes, but also about the ones he would like to have back.
I’m a bit of a ball-talker myself, and I’m quick to say, “Oh, come back here,” when I’ve let one go too wide of the fairway. Usually, if a shot is really going to escape me, it will be with the driver, and I know not long after the ball leaves the club that I may be headed for real trouble.
James might have been thinking similar thoughts about words he had spoken when he penned today’s verse in his letter to his fellow Jews—words, that is, that he would have liked to have back.
Sure, we can all catalogue the hurtful, misspoken words of others. And we might write sternly about holding one’s tongue based on that kind of experience, in the same way we might generally say, “You’ll save yourself a lot of shots if you can keep the driver in the fairway.” But what really must concern us, in life if not in golf, are the errors we make ourselves, the words and deeds that show the grip of sin on our lives.
James, it should be noted, was not so pained by the idea of religion as many modern thinkers are. His concern was with bad religion, the kind that claims one ethic and lives another. So he called on his readers to recognize whether their religion was authentic or untrue, and to hold to the task of living rightly in words and in actions, in attitude and in motive.
Among the apostle’s points of emphasis was the matter of the tongue. He knew that words, in essence, are actions, displaying as much about our character as what we do. So he warned that we should be strict with our tongues, saying only what can honorably be said. You don’t want to keep chasing after your ill-spoken words, crying “Come back here!” while recognizing that the damage has already been done. This is so important, in fact, that those who cannot restrain their words don’t have a religion worth calling righteous.
We do best when opening our mouths to follow Paul’s pattern as taught to the Ephesians: “[Say] only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29).
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Jeff Hopper
February 22, 2012
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