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What Kind of Tongue Do You Have?
The book of James in the New Testament tells us what we have already long known. The tongue is a world of iniquity. Speech gushes out the thoughts of our minds and hearts which are either full of sin or love. The overflow of sin or love erupts into our vocabulary and that speech either tears down others or builds them up. We either heal or harm with our words.
James tells us:
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Many things can be tamed, but the tongue cannot be tamed by man. Truly, it holds a deadly poison and does a world of harm.
James continues in chapter 3, verse 9 and on:
9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.
The choice is up to you. Will you use your tongue and your mind to bless God or curse men. Will your life reflect the love and kindness of the risen Son of God or will you live and speak like the devil?
10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. James 3:6-10 NKJV
James concludes verse 10 by telling us that we can both bless and curse with the same mouth and this is wrong.
The Holy Spirit will come and indwell in the Christian believer when he asks God for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
First, of course, the man or woman, boy or girl must believe in Jesus as the risen Son of God Who has died for their sins. They must ask God for forgiveness of their sins through Christ and turn from them, never wanting to sin again. Often this is when a believer seeks baptism.
Then, they ask God for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Our Holy Spirit is our Comforter, our Intercessor, and our Guide.
This is the Love of God in our lives.
He will remind you of God’s laws and commandments and help you to keep them.
You can still make mistakes and sin, but the help you receive to turn from sin is enormous.
My Story
Many of the homeless I served among were addicted to alcohol and drugs. One day, as several were asking me about the Holy Spirit, I felt prompted to pick up a nearly empty whiskey bottle from the muddy ground. I turned it upside down and poured out the rainwater in it.
I shared what God had shown me.
The bottle was much like all of us when we were filled with sin. God forgave us and poured out our sins. However, before long we could again be filled with the sin around us. Our actions and our speech would be as they always had been.
However, when God takes an empty soul and fills it with His Holy Spirit of Love, we are filled to overflowing with His Goodness.
Your actions and speech will be altered and more like Jesus.
Though man can’t tame the tongue, the Holy Spirit of God alone CAN tame that tongue and the sin it can cause.
Let us who believe in our Risen Savior Jesus, go to God right now. Seek the forgiveness of our sins through Christ’s death on the cross.
Let us ask for the infilling Holy Spirit to change us into the person that God wants us to be. Now and forever follow the example of His Son Jesus Christ.