the tongue's power

So over the past few weeks, there have been different incidents where my mouth has led to trouble for me or some pain for other people. Not that it was intentional, but nonetheless, it happened.

I don't think James was under-do-ing it when he used the analogy of a ship's small rudder controlling the big ship. I was going over his words in James 3, and here are some running thoughts as the passage goes on, related to this idea of keeping the tongue in check:

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
My role in life with other people is not to instruct them or tell them what is right or wrong. That is the Lord's doing and the Lord's work. Not to say He can't use us as instruments to do that, He can...but in my zeal to help build others up, living an example of God's truth and His ways speaks far louder than words.

We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.
James knows human beings. We're going to goof up with our mouths from time to time. Nobody is perfect.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.
Our tongues should not be used to control or to demonstrate power.

Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.
All that "sticks and stones may break my bones...but words will never hurt me..." That is the most untrue, horribly in-denial song for the world. Words have an incredibly powerful effect and should be chosen and used carefully.

Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
Chosen words have the potential, if not checked, to spiral into a horrendous and dangerous snowball with even greater and greater consequences. Remember James points out a bit earlier he knows that all humans are going to mess up and say dumb and hurtful things sometimes. Yet, there ought to be a check in place and a desire to limit or reconcile those words from spiraling into something much much worse.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
Yikes. Like I was feeling after my incidents, I would rather not ever talk again. It'd save me a lot of frustration, hurt on other people's part. So yes, there is something valuable to biting the tongue and not saying anything at all. Never might be an extreme, but I should speak less.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.
This hit me hard. With my words, when I criticize people or gossip or talk negatively about someone behind someone's back, or even to their face, I am basically in God's face, saying, "this creature you made is not that great...not that wonderful." It is way too bold and arrogant on my part for me to dare to do something like this, I should always remember that when I speak of someone, I am speaking of a uniquely beloved creation of Christ.

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.
I am clearly a person full of contradictions and hypocrisy. Most often, I need to seek the Lord's wisdom, and not my own (the next thing James talks about). I need to live out His wisdom, the knowledge of Christ's grace, and that sort of life should be the life that I am speaking about and living out loud.