The Untamable Tongue

When I was young I had a wicked temper. I would fight at the blink of an eye and for any reason. I have battled this problem for years and have made good headway mellowing more and more each year. Occasionally the frustrations get the best of me and I have difficulty controlling my temper. Although I haven’t been in an actual fistfight in years, I do occasionally get into verbal fights. I do not like to even get mad at anyone, much less engage in a verbal fight. When two people get into a fight, whether it is physical or verbal, both parties lose. I hate to lose, especially to satan.

One of my self improvement goals is to maintain more control over the urge to fight that is lodged deep within me. Indira Ghandi once said, “It is hard to shake hands with clenched fists”. I think that fists are not as big of a problem as the tongue and ears. The Bible states in James 1:19 “…let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

If the wrath of man is not righteous and of God, then it is wrong and comes from satan. James 3:17 states: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy”.

Nothing produces the wrath of man quicker than careless words that are spoken (and/or e-mailed). According to the Bible, if we never stumbled with our tongue, we would be “perfect”. Listen to what the Bible says about the subject.

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James 3:2

For we all stumble in many
things. If anyone does not stumble
in word, he is a perfect man, able
also to bridle the whole body.
Indeed we put bits in horses’
mouths that they may obey us, and
we turn their whole body.

Look also at ships: although they
are so large and are driven by fierce
winds, they are turned by a very
small rudder wherever the pilot
desires.

Even so the tongue is a little
member and boasts great things.
See how great a forest a little fire
kindles!

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.

For every kind of beast and bird,
of reptile and creature of the sea, is
tamed and has been tamed by
mankind.

But no man can tame the tongue.
It is an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison.