My baby sister uses her tongue to blow raspberries. Yes; it is a game we often play when we are acting silly. It is so cute to see her smile at me and giggle while she sticks her tongue out at me. It was cute…. until she stuck out her tongue to an adult when she was supposed to say, “Yes Ma’am!” I knew where she got the idea to blow that raspberry to that dear sister in our congregation. Needless to say, I felt guilty for teaching her that game after my mother disciplined her! Surely she did not use her tongue in a way that would be pleasing in that situation.
What an amazing blessing God has given us with the gift of speech! With it we can praise God with the fruit of our lips (Hebrews 13:15), we are able to teach others about the gospel (Matt. 28:19-20), and we can lift each other up with encouragement and edification (Rom. 15:2)! Unfortunately, the tongue has also been likened to a fire that starts small and causes total destruction (James 3:6). James reminds us that with our tongues, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God! We need to be extremely careful of how we use our tongue and choose wisely what we are going to say, because our tongue is powerful!
The tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:8). Deadly Poison? Yes, with our tongues we can spread deadly poison such as gossip, lies, filthy language, disrespecting God’s precious name, and slinging words that tear down and rip relationships.
We should not tell lies. God HATES lies!! In Proverbs 6:16-19 the Proverb writer said in that out of the 6 things the lord hates, 2 out of 6 of those things mentioned reference lying. Paul also said in Colossians 3:9… “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.” In Eph. 4:31, He also tells us to …“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.”
Like my sister, the things that we say come directly from what we “learn”. The truth of the matter is that we will repeat what we have heard! The old saying is true…What goes in, comes out! Have we fully considered that we CAN control the way we use our tongue? What can we do to control our tongue?
Simply put, fill your life with God’s Word! The psalmist states that if we hide God’s Word in our heart, we might not sin against him (Psalm 119:11). We should put God’s Word in our hearts…. Not trash! What goes in…WILL come out!!! Garbage in, Garbage out! Jesus said in Matthew 15:18, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.” You may say it is hard, but don’t forget what Paul reminds us of in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” Through God, ALL things are possible.
What is your heart “teaching” your tongue? How are things getting in your heart? What are you putting in your heart? The greatest news is that God has given us the ability to control what goes in our minds and hearts! If we set our minds on things above, (Col. 3:2) our tongues can be used to glorify our Father in Heaven.