James 3 is the classic text about speaking life rather death, breathing heaven rather than hell by what we say and how we say it. When something is 'set on fire by hell', we should probably slow down and tread gently.
Your words matter. If they aren't life-giving, they are hellish.
So when you rip apart your boss or your pastor. When you jab at your spouse. When you tear down your kid. When sarcasm belittles those who converse with. When your words are the level of quality, intelligence and couth of The Hangover 2 (a.k.a. a bunch of perverted filth and trash that could have been written by me when I was a childish 7th grader), when you gossip about the latest drama in your school or workplace...(Have I covered us all yet?!)...It is hell, not heaven we are bringing.
And God is not ok with that.
It is interesting that the remedy to the taming of the tongue comes at the end of chapter three...it begins with wisdom. And I remember a guy preaching on the topic of fear one time...and the verse "The Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" was used.
So Fearing God leads to wisdom. Wisdom leads to gentleness. Gentleness and purity and mercy and peace and impartiality and non-hypocritical living...they all are rooted in wisdom. And wisdom is rooted in fearing God.
So...if I am wreckless or hellish in my speaking, it is predominantly a God-fearing problem. So...how are you fearing God these days?
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