Thought for Today
2 Samuel 23:2 The spirit of the Lord speaks through me, his word is upon my tongue.
Psalm 34:13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
James 3:8 but no one can tame the tongue-- a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
Romans 14:11 For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God."
The devotional today in These Days focuses on James 3:1-12, and especially vs. 10, “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.” It should be obvious to us all that James’ comment on its not being so is so true it does not need to be said. However, reading the Bible and watching the world around me, many have not gotten the memo.
The power of our tongues is mentioned often in scripture. The word tongue appears between 85 – 129 times in the Bible. The plural tongues appears an additional 31 – 50 times. Irrespective of whatever translation of paraphrase Bible you prefer, that many appearances of a word indicates its importance.
I was originally trained as an engineer. Engineers are taught to take extra care in making sure that their ideas and concepts are carefully and clearly communicated in as few words as possible. I later learned the same lesson as I worked in management. Terse, concise, explicit and exact language was demanded.
Later, in graduate school, I learned that more verbosity was required and repetition was not discouraged. We were given a pattern for all papers we submitted: tell them what you are going to tell them; then tell them; then tell them what you have told them. But, clear and explicit language was demanded.
When I went to seminary, I learned that brevity, clarity and explicit written words are not enough. More than any of my earlier training as an engineer or in management, seminary taught me the power of the spoken word. Power to encourage; power to inspire; power to heal; and, power to hurt, discourage, and even destroy. When spoken, words take on a life of their own.
Most of us remember from our childhood, “Sticks and stones may break my bones; but, words can never hurt me.” Most of us know the subtle lie in that childhood ditty. My mother taught that to me to help me bridle my anger, to teach me that I should temper my anger at careless or hurtful words offered by others. Rather than respond in other hateful words or with physical violence, I was to merely ignore the taunts of others.
In today’s devotional, the writer said, “We who write and teach have a particular responsibility for our use of language.” I would extend that responsibility to everyone, especially those of us who call ourselves Christians. I would also extend our responsibility far beyond the written or even spoken word. The writer wrote, “The development of speech was a unique human accomplishment. Other creatures communicate by grunts, growls, and touch. Humans use many different languages.” We do, including body language. Smiles, sneers, frowns and glares all communicate body language.
During my own lifetime, I have seen civil discourse regress and deteriorate into a morass of uncivility, misogyny and hostility. That regression is exemplified in our political discourse, especially in election campaigns but also in the championing or disparaging of contentious programs. Our history as a nation suggests that from our origins, political discourse has often been contentious, sometimes even resorting to physical confrontations and even duels to the death. Maybe every politician should be required to read James 3:10 and to repeat aloud, “this ought not to be so.”
Can we learn to agree to disagree? Can we instill civil discourse, calm and rational debate over contentious ideas and plans? Can God’s children who have differing ideas and ideals come together to calmly and civilly discuss those ideas and ideals? We could encourage that by all remembering Jesus’ words about loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. I remember a song from my youth, “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” it included the line, "We'd better ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive"/Eliminate the negative and latch on to the affirmative/Don’t mess with Mister In-between.” That seems like a good theme song for moving forward
Stay safe, accentuate the positive and love your neighbors, trust God,
Pastor Ray