James 3:5-12
What we speak is incredibly powerful. Jesus said that in our mouths we have the words of life and death. What we speak can either encourage in love or condemn. It can destroy or rebuild. “Out of the overflow of the mouth the heart speaks,” Proverbs tells us. Our sinful nature makes use of the tongue if we let it, and most don’t realize that the tongue is difficult to tame.
Speech is powerful, because the use of it brings understanding to the soul. It reveals the mysteries of the heart. If we are whole-heartedly living for God, our tongue can only speak words of life. Yet, if inwardly we are full of envy, hatred, and fear, our tongue will speak in accordance with these.
A tongue that speaks both blessing toward God and hatred toward men is a sign of a divided heart. We cannot expect to glorify God if we speak words of death and promote ourselves rather than Him, nor can we expect His blessings on a heart full of hypocrisy. Our mouth must be tamed by God, giving Him complete control over what we speak, that we may be among those that speak words of life, speaking as Christ spoke. Our words must be full of compassion and understanding, speaking what the Father would have us speak rather than what we would want to speak.