Out of the Same Mouth
This is a devotional that God placed on my heart during the week and I have tried to ignore it, unsuccessfully I might add. Ignoring God never works out for me. He always finds ways to constantly remind me that He’s trying to show me something; that the ‘issue’ I am trying to ignore will not go away. He will show me Bible verses, quotes from Christian writers, events around the world and beautiful, truthful words from loved ones all pointing to the topic He wants me to wrestle with. Which, quite honestly, is a wonderful thing. If there were no prompting, guiding and some pushing, I would not be writing these devotionals. It’s the quiet nudge, the gentle push that reminds me that when I listen to His call, I am giving all of the glory to my Father. It may not always be easy, but it is definitely worth it.
With that being said, this topic is a tough one at best. During the past five weeks of this pandemic I have been praying that we would all learn something while we are in quarantine. I have prayed for wisdom for our medical staff. I have prayed for peace and comfort for those suffering the loss of loved ones, for love and compassion to fill our hearts and flow out from us to everyone around us. I have especially prayed for God’s words to fill our hearts, that we would all spread the goodness He offers and invite everyone to His table. Unfortunately, this is not what I have seen.
There has been so much anger, hatred, judgement, divisiveness, lack of empathy, name calling and down right nastiness happening. Everywhere I look on social media it is filled with awful poison. Instead of using this moment to connect with others and bring us together, people have been using it as a time to drive a wedge between what they feel is the right way and the wrong way. The problem with that is with everyone behaving this way…no one agrees on anything. All logic and common sense fly out the window. The finger pointing begins and fire is spewed from tongues.
“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring the righteous life that God desires…If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he will deceive himself and his religion is worthless.” (James 1:19-20, 26 emphasis mine)
I have seen Christians post beautiful messages from the Bible and in the very next post they are calling people names, shaming another group of people and praising others who are mean and nasty. It breaks my heart. While I do see beauty and love in action happening as well: meals being served; food given to those in need; neighbors cheering each other up; technology being used to connect with loved ones, teachers and friends, I feel the ugliness of the situation takes the lime light. Too much attention is focused on the anger and arguing.
As Christians, James reminds us that we must watch what we say and how we say it. Claiming to be a Christian and spouting off in anger do not go hand in hand. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to remain silent and let God handle the situation. You feel helpless? I understand that, I really do. This is so much bigger than all of us! What better time than now, to fall to our knees and pray for God to move in and through us? Pray for God’s words to fall from our lips and grace our fingertips as we type comments and responses online.
“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among 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… but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 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.“ (James 3:6, 8-10 emphasis mine)
Harsh words? You bet! However, I truly believe that we need to hear them, no matter how much they may sting. You may be wondering why I am saying that it is okay for James to be so blunt and honest yet we need to watch what we are saying? Ah, good questions. James did not mince words, true, he was blunt and honest,yes, but he spoke from the heart, from the stance of love and concern for his fellow followers of Christ. Look closely at the passage, James is not name calling, he is not spewing hatred, and he counts himself in the group that he is talking to. He says, “…we praise our Lord and Father…we curse men…” (emphasis mine). He knew that we are human and we all have untamed tongues. He knew that we need God to help us tame the poison, the venom, that lies in wait until we are ready to throw it at the people who disagree with us; those who cause anxiety in us; those who spark fear inside. He knew that we all have this tendency so he called us out on it. He pointed out that we can’t tame our tongues on our own, “…but no man can tame the tongue…”. This is why we fall on our knees and pray for God to fill our minds, hearts, and mouths with His words! This is where we pray for words of love to flow from us; words of encouragement and hope.
In the book of Matthew, we see Jesus rebuking the Pharisees. The Pharisees knew Scripture inside and out, yet they did not live it out, rather they used the words to judge and condemn others. Their hearts were not pure, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Mathew 12:34 emphasis mine) In Matthew 15 we see that Jesus is speaking to his followers about what makes someone clean or unclean:
“What goes into the man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean’, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean’. But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts…false testimony and slander. These are what makes a man ‘unclean’ .” (Matthew 15:11, 18-19 emphasis mine)
Take a moment and ponder this: that which we focus on, which we put all of our energy into, becomes front and center in our minds. The more it is on our minds, the more we act in-line with ‘it’. IF we allow it, it can change everything about us, the way we act, move and talk. Now, if we are focusing on Scripture, God’s love and His mercy, that will change us in a graceful and fascinating way that we can then turn towards those in our lives. But….if we focus on the hate and evil in this world, if we let it take up all of the space in our minds, it will spill out into our hearts. It will change us, but not for the better. We will become mean, rough, nasty and will speak words that reflect our hearts.
Even Luke wrote about how this would happen if we do not guard our hearts, “The good man brings out the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil he stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45) These words might have a bite to them. I know they are a sharp reminder for me. Not too long ago I was filled to overflowing with anger, hate and rage. As I said, I was overflowing with it, the anger had to go somewhere, and it usually landed on those that I loved the most. I threw such harsh, painful words at those closest to me. I heaved so much ugliness onto people who were there to try and help me through some very tough situations. I lashed out without thought…and spent years regretting those hurtful words. That’s the problem with those grisly words, you can ask for forgiveness and forgiveness may have been given, yet the leave scars on those who were hurt by them. They leave gouges on their hearts. AND they leaves marks on you as well. Our damaging words leave marks on our hearts and minds as well.
So how do we tame our tongues? How do we watch what we say? How do we keep our minds and hearts pure and full of God’s words? We stay in prayer and we focus on Scripture:
“If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.” (1 Peter 3:11 emphasis mine)
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.” (Proverbs 4:23-24 emphasis mine)
We have a choice in how we speak and how we respond to that which sparks any anger in us. I have said that I want my knee-jerk reactions to be Christ-like actions. We have the choice to remain silent and pray for God’s peace and guidance in the situation. We do not have to react first, blindly ranting, and then regret those words or actions. We can think about how we want to respond…or not respond. We have that choice!
“In your anger, do not sin…do not give the devil a foothold…Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up those who listen…Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling an slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:26-27, 29-32)
Remember, James told us we can not tame our tongues on our own, we need God to guide us. James continues by saying:
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you…Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgement on it…But you – who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:7-8, 11-12 emphasis mine)
I would like to leave you with this passage from the Apostle Paul:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)
My prayer for you is that you submit yourselves…allow God to place His words on your heart. I pray you let His words fall from your tongue. May you speak with love and kindness. May your thoughts, words and actions reflect those of Christ and not those of this world. And may God’s peace move through you when you are faced with anger from the situations around you.
See you on the front porch.