The Tyrant Tongue

Every time I open my mouth to speak I feel as though I am walking a tightrope. One way there is the pitfall of saying too much and the other way there is the pitfall of saying too little.
It is very easy to say too much. The wise sages all down the years have produced many shrewd sayings about this danger and the results that can sometimes follow.

By saying too much you can do a great deal of damage. It is amazing the size of juggernaut that can be unleashed by a careless word. James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, compared the tongue to the rudder of a ship. It is relatively small compared with the vessel itself, but it can steer the whole of that vessel in whatever direction the pilot decides. I know that from my one brief experience of steering a vessel on water. It was an occasion where I was for a short while in charge of a narrowboat – I was at the tiller, in other words.

As a novice, I found myself always oversteering. The result was that the narrowboat took a zigzag course through the canal. I don't say the boat came to any harm. I did not go crashing into the canal bank or otherwise causing destruction. But I don't think the patient boat-owner who let me have a go at the tiller was particularly impressed by my skills. I hope to have another go soon as we look forward to a church outing on a narrowboat on the Kennet and Avon Canal.

My erratic course also illustrates another point that James makes in his letter. In his first chapter, James criticises the indecisive person – "double-minded, unstable in all his ways". 
This double-minded character does not get what he asks for from the Lord. His problem is not just indecisiveness but a lurching between good and evil. About the tongue, James says this:

"... it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water" (James 3:8-12).

The other danger is in our saying too little. That way we may avoid saying the wrong thing, but if we look churlish that may equally send the wrong signals. Our silence can be as much of a weapon of mass destruction as the exercising of speech.

In order to truly use our tongue in the right way, the way that pleases God, we need His grace constantly. We need, in other words, following another piece of New Testament advice, to study how best to speak to each person we meet, and do it prayerfully.

May God help us in this precious work. It can bring enormous benefit where a hasty tongue would cause incalculable harm. It is also an excellent witness for Christ.

A church pastor I know explained to me one day how he was born into a non-Christian home. He found that non-Christians never seem to be able to avoid getting into shouting matches every time they have a difference of opinion. It clearly made a great impression on my friend that Christians see no need of this.