James 3:5b-6 says "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."
Thinking back over my life, most of the trouble I've ever gotten into appears to have started with my tongue. Pride, jealousy, bitterness, dissension, gossip, etc. have (I am sad to say) all somehow started with my tongue. And this morning as I read this passage, I couldn't read more than 2-3 verses before I felt an overwhelming urge to say , "Woe to me for I am a person of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips!" Not an exact quote of Isaiah, but you get the point.
How many times has my tongue influenced and directly led the "course of my life"? My Bible even interchanges life with existence...Oh, Abba...I've allowed this tiny thing to so often determine the very path of my EXISTENCE. Purge me! Cleanse me!
BUT I'm mature enough to know that this DOESN'T start with my tongue!!! By the time it reaches my tongue it's already taken root in my mind and in my heart. I've heard (or read!) Beth Moore say over and again that we have to "take captive" our thoughts. I once read that the key to learning forgiveness is to shut up and listen. My husband & my daughter are probably 2 of the most compassionate people I know & yet, they are also 2 of the quietest. When they say something...people listen because it is probably worth hearing!
Holy Spirit, take control of my thoughts, help me hear YOUR leading, YOUR thoughts so that I may only speak as you direct. Take control of this tiny tongue that can set aflame a great forest. You made it...I give it back to You as Your instrument to use as You will! Amen!
Thinking back over my life, most of the trouble I've ever gotten into appears to have started with my tongue. Pride, jealousy, bitterness, dissension, gossip, etc. have (I am sad to say) all somehow started with my tongue. And this morning as I read this passage, I couldn't read more than 2-3 verses before I felt an overwhelming urge to say , "Woe to me for I am a person of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips!" Not an exact quote of Isaiah, but you get the point.
How many times has my tongue influenced and directly led the "course of my life"? My Bible even interchanges life with existence...Oh, Abba...I've allowed this tiny thing to so often determine the very path of my EXISTENCE. Purge me! Cleanse me!
BUT I'm mature enough to know that this DOESN'T start with my tongue!!! By the time it reaches my tongue it's already taken root in my mind and in my heart. I've heard (or read!) Beth Moore say over and again that we have to "take captive" our thoughts. I once read that the key to learning forgiveness is to shut up and listen. My husband & my daughter are probably 2 of the most compassionate people I know & yet, they are also 2 of the quietest. When they say something...people listen because it is probably worth hearing!
Holy Spirit, take control of my thoughts, help me hear YOUR leading, YOUR thoughts so that I may only speak as you direct. Take control of this tiny tongue that can set aflame a great forest. You made it...I give it back to You as Your instrument to use as You will! Amen!
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