James 3:1-12 (NRSV)
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Chapter 3Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. Verse 2For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. Verse 3If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Verse 4Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. Verse 5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! Verse 6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. Verse 7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, Verse 8but no one can tame the tongue-a restless evil, full of deadly poison. Verse 9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. Verse 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Verse 11Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Verse 12Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
Devotion
The acacia trees we see have prickly thorns growing up and down each branch, surrounded by green leaves. Each thorn is long and treacherously sharp, threatening all who come near the tree.
The giraffe walks tall and graceful, its tongue longer than any other animal of God’s creation. The giraffe grazes on the prickly acacia, wrapping its long tongue around branches thick with thorns. A very tricky thing! How does the stately giraffe keep such control over its tongue? How does it avoid a bloodied and shredded tongue? What is it about knife-like thorns that is tantalizing?
Would that I could control my tongue! Would that I could use it to sing only praises to my God! Would that I could use it to build up the body of Christ, wrapping it lovingly around family and friends. But my tongue has not been tamed. Painful thorns shred it and its venom spews forth.
Prayer
Gracious God, for the beauty of your earth and of your creatures we give our thanks and praise, most especially for the giraffe and the acacia. We also give thanks to you for our tongues, that can sing your praises to all the world. Tame our tongues through your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.