James 3: 7-8, “Every sea creature, reptile, bird, or animal is tamed and has been tamed by man, 8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
The contract that James uses here about taming animals vs. taming the tongue is interesting. In Genesis, from the creation of man and animals, God gives man dominion over the animals. The goal of taming something is to reduce it from a wild to a domesticated state or bring under control. We can do that with animals but have trouble doing that with our tongues.
One of my commentaries said, “The Greek, implies that it is at once restless and incapable of restraint. Nay, though nature has hedged it in with a double barrier of the lips and teeth, it bursts from its barriers to assail and ruin men.” I hadn’t really thought about the double barrier that the tongue is behind, a great visual to carry with us.
A restless evil, full of deadly poison
Since we can’t tame our tongue and we know the power of evil and deadly poison, what do we do? Especially when our children were teenagers, we would remind them; they are a product of 3 things, who you hang out with, what you read and what you listen to. This is true for us as well. We need to guard what we are consuming. If we are consuming negativity, then the outcome will be negativity. If we are consuming the Word of the Lord, then our outcome with be positive and encouraging.
Dear Lord, our desire is to consume so much of You, that our tongues are kind and thoughtful and not evil and poisonous. Let the Holy Spirit work in us today. Amen.
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Jas 3:7–8). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 490). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
