It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. “James 3:5-6 (The Message)
I think we can all read that again…let it soak in.
I really don’t know where to start. The more that I read about the impact that words have had in human lives the thought overwhelms. It is beyond comprehension. The impact can effect just one dear person or millions. Why are we as humans so careless? Here are just a few examples:
- Remember The Carpenters? Karen Carpenter died of her anorexia. As a young teen she was concerned with her weight, but she went off the deep end in her preoccupation about her body image when a Billboard magazine critic called her Richard`s ”chubby sister.”
- A branch of the Metro Bank in northwest London had people queued out the door to withdraw money from their accounts and remove all their valuables from safe-deposit boxes, fearing that the bank would collapse. Customers had fallen victim to a false rumor spreading on WhatsApp that said, “the bank may be shut down or going bankrupt.” The information was entirely false. (May 2019)
- On April 23, 2013, a fake tweet from a hacked Associated Press account claimed that explosions at the White House had injured Barack Obama. That lone tweet was a complete lie but caused instability on world financial markets, and the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index lost $130 billion in a short period.
- Thousands of kids continue to be bullied on the playground and on social media. It is an epidemic. They are committing suicide or finding a gun and shooting everyone in their wake of hate and rejection.
As a people who want to honor God, we turn to what He says for help, for guidance. Hundreds of passages in the Bible refer to our tongues. Most of them confront us with some convicting adjectives: undisciplined, unmanageable, unruly, disobedient, willful, riotous, unruly, out of control, careless, false, wicked, idle, boastful, defiant, a poison.
No one wants to hear these words about themselves. Denial sets in. “Not me.” “I didn’t mean it.” “I was tired.” “I wasn’t thinking.” “It’s no big deal.” “They weren’t really listening anyway.” Denial. Remove the denial and we can begin to change.
“If you put yourself on a pedestal, thinking you have become a role model in all things religious, but you can’t control your mouth, then think again. Your mouth exposes your heart, and your religion is useless.” James 1:26 (The Voice)
“An evildoer listens to wicked lips;
A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.
He who mocks the poor taunts his Maker;
He who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.” Proverbs 17:4-5 (NASB)
The whole world has really lost its way with words. Fake news, cyberbullying, words that lead to rumors that infect relationships, decisions, elections, our future. Everyday we will read or hear that someone has said something that has caused brokenness somewhere. It’s so easy to let our tongues get the better of us. Not one of us is innocent of words out of control.
When I first chose this theme, The Tongue, I had no idea of the magnitude of THE PROBLEM. The results of unbridled words are scars that can run deep.
So what can be done? Will the wildfire of The Tongue’s Power stay unchecked? Each of us needs to start with admitting THE PROBLEM. Then God can start to work. He made us to be His people. He made us to conquer our humanness with His power. Let’s start with recognizing that. Let’s do this!