Read James 3:1-12
You may remember the Sunday school song that said, “O be careful little mouth what you say. There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love. O be careful little mouth what you say.” As children, our parents took time to teach us to say “please” and “thank you” and that calling another kid “stupid” was wrong. Songs like the one I mentioned helped instill that basic foundation of watching our words as a kid. But as we grow older, we become cunning with our words and we find ways to say aggressive words in a passive-aggressive tone. We start to learn the art of covering up our negative words with sarcasm and jokes, ignoring that the words pour from a place of evil in our hearts. Sarcasm and satirical rhetoric now flow through much of the modern American culture and can be found deep within the church as well.
James chapter 3 talks about the effect and power of our words on others and ourselves. Our tongues and our words guide our lives in both good and bad directions. Verses 4 and 5 say, “Look at the ships also, though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So, also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.” James shows us that a simple word, joke, or comment about someone else may feel small to us but can actually pilot that situation toward either a good or evil destination. Our words have a broad impact on those we speak with and over.
Some of you may know about the successful Swedish company and store IKEA. It is a store filled with lots of furniture that no one knows how to assemble and a café with amazing meatballs. Try them and you’ll understand. This company decided to run an experiment. They took two house plants from their store and put them in a school where students watched as recorded messages of encouragement and loving words were spoken to one plant, and words of bullying, negative, and evil words were spoken over the other. After 30 days you can see that the plant that was blessed with kind words grew strong and lively, while the one that was cursed shriveled and started to die. You can watch a short video on this experiment here.
We respond physically to the words that are spoken over us. Science proves that our words have power. Just as God spoke creation, matter, and science into existence, so our own words create or destroy others around us. James says that with our mouths “we bless our Lord and Father. And with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things ought not to be so.” (3:9-10). When we start seeing people as “made in the image of God,” we start watching our words more carefully. It is so sad that we easily fall into the habit of blessing God with praise and worship, and with the same mouth we turn and verbally vandalize our brothers and sisters who are made in God’s image, just as a vandal defaces a work of art. God spoke value into all men and women and yet we tear them down and devalue them. The best example of how we should speak is from Jesus. He spoke with love, truth, kindness, grace, mercy, and authority. When we start to speak more like Jesus, people will be changed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Just like the IKEA house plant, the people you encounter can grow into thriving and growing individuals by your loving words. O, be careful little mouth what you say.
Tags: life, encouragement, death, tongue, words, ikea
