One of my favorite shows when I was a teenager was Designing Women, and my favorite character was Julia Sugarbaker. She could go on a rant like nobody’s business. One of the rants that has stuck with me is the following:

Mrs. Salinger:  (Referring to homosexuals) I just know that these people are getting what they deserve!

Julia Sugarbaker:  Imogene get serious, who do you think you’re talking to? I’ve known you for 27 years and all I can say is if God was giving out sexually transmitted diseases to people as a punishment for sinning then you would be at the free clinic all the time!

Love Julia's defense. That would be called a righteous anger.

But maybe have you ever just wanted to come up with something like that in the heat of the moment that wasn't righteous anger? Something poignant and direct to hit someone square between the eyes with a dose of truth they can’t deny. I confess. I have, and I have delivered some speeches meant to level the playing field and hit their mark. I was actually quite fluent in this form of communication when the need arose when I was in college and through my young married life. A sweet friend of mine used to tell me when someone made her mad that she had blessed them out in her mind. Mine always came out my mouth. Always. But there is a flipside to that coin.

James 3 is a whole chapter regarding controlling the tongue. The tongue is compared to a bit placed in the mouth of a horse to have it obey, and so it can be guided. The tongue is also compared to the rudder of a ship which controls the whole ship at the will of the pilot. A tamed tongue allows the rest of the body or mass to be guided, to be led. Who should be guiding us? When the flesh is allowed to control our tongue, we can do irreparable damage.

The tongue is defined as this in chapter 3, the tongue --

·         Is a fire

·         Is a world of unrighteousness

·         Is a part of the body

·         Pollutes the whole body

·         Sets the course of life on fire

·         Is set on fire by hell

·         Cannot be tamed by man

·         Is a restless evil

·         Is full of deadly poison

Matthew 15:11, “It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, that defiles a man.” (HCSB) Our words can defile us and those around us.

If you take time to study each of those bullet points, there are questions to be asked.

·         Can a fire be quenched or snuffed out? How? What does that look like in the spiritual aspect of things?

·         How can the unrighteous become righteous?

·         What is the best function for the tongue as part of the body?

·         How can one clean the whole body if one part is contaminating it?

·         Who conquers hell?

·         If it cannot be tamed by man, leads me to believe it can be tamed by someone. Who?

·         How do we overcome evil?

·         How can we remove bitterness, poisons and toxins from within our own bodies?

James 3:9 says, “We praise our Lord and Father with it, and we curse men made in God’s likeness with it.” This should not be. Regardless of what the other person has done, your speech should reflect God’s wisdom and His love and forgiveness. James 3:17 tells us God’s wisdom is pure, peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits (fruit of the Spirit Galatian 5:22-23) without favoritism and hypocrisy.

I know people who are so eaten up with bitterness and anger that their tongue has not only polluted their body but it has polluted the lives of those closest them.

Your speech reveals who you are, whose you are, what’s in your heart, and where you are spiritually. So what does your tongue say about you?