The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

James 3:6-10, “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.

7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human race.

8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.”

Did your mother ever give you a “tongue lashing”? Well, mine did! What’s more, it hurt more than that willow switch, but in a different way. James has already given us a thrashing in 3:1-5; now, he lays it on us with even more ferocity! His tongue is telling us about ours! He says the tongue is a fire of iniquity! We can sin with our eyes, with our hands, even with our ears; but the tongue –your tongue and mine—ruins our lives and others, body and soul, and finds its origin in Hell itself! Wow! That’s heavy!!

Virtually everything else in life can be tamed and controlled, but not the tongue! It restless in that it wants to spout out words, often to the hurt of others. And there’s yet another aspect of the tongue that’s even worse: that same tongue that

is utilized in praying to the LORD (which is good), is tuilized in cursing men (which is not good) –men who have been created in the likeness of God! We can understand the vileness of a lost person’s speech. But when saved men and women, whose lives have ostensibly been committed to the LORD Jesus Christ, when they use their tongues to pray lovingly to God on the one hand, and simultaneously curse their fellowmen on the other, that’s too much! God is not pleased with that!

So before the LORD Himself gives you (and me!) a “tongue lashing,” we had better get a grip on our tongues! When was the last time you earnestly prayed to the LORD? And when was the last time you spoke scathingly to someone else? Who was behind what you said? Prayer won’t work in a situation like that! The LORD knows when we are consistently clean and faithful, and when we are not. Believe me, HE alone can control your tongue! When He does, you will begin to get answers to your prayers.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”