James 3:9-12 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers,
this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Have you ever seen a snake poke it’s tongue out? They are hideous creatures with forked tongues. You know who else has a forked tongue? Humans do! We often, as the old saying goes, ‘speak out of both sides of our mouth.’ We, to put it bluntly, have all been two-faced or as Scripture puts it, double-tongued.
As believers, we are to seek authenticity in our lives. We are to let our “yes be yes” and our “no be no.” We are to be people of our word like God is a God of His Word. Yet, how can we be so guilty at using our tongue to praise the Lord one moment and curse the world the next? This reveals an issue of the heart. This reveals where the person is in their integrity. We must walk as Jesus did seeking to be authentic right down to the smallest word we say because we must all give an account not just of our actions but of our words as well. “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.” (Matthew 12:36) How are you at using your tongue? May we use our words to build up, not tear down this week!
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