The young man was adopted as a child. When he was a teen, he wanted to connect with his birth parents. He began living in another state with his birth father and his wife. His step-mother was loving and kind. She was able to get him a job where she worked. It paid very well.
One day his supervisor placed him at a different workstation. He wasn’t happy. He became resentful and angry. Noticing this, his boss approached. That’s when it happened. He raged and cursed the manager. He was, of course, immediately fired from that wellpaying job. Not long after that day, he regretted what he’d said and done. It was too late! Words are like that. He should have held his tongue, but he didn’t.
Have you ever spoken harshly, then immediately regretted the words you had spoken in anger? This is a common problem! In the Bible, Jesus, Paul, and James each spoke about this.
Listen to the Lord’s brother, James: “For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horses’mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well…So also the tongue is a small part of the body… “See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
“But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing…Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?… Nor can salt water produce fresh.” (James 3:2-6, 812) That’s a logical, insightful, and accurate argument against our easiest sin! Jesus tells us, “Your words can make you right with God, or your words can condemn you!”(Matthew 12:37).The apostle Paul teaches that filthy and foolish words, including dirty jokes, are sinful (Ephesians 5:4).
Let’s work at bridling our tongue, for the Lord’s sake, and our own!