James continued Chapter 3’s discussion on the to give by telling us what we can do with it. This daily devotion looks at using our speech to bless and curse people.
Nuggets
- Our tongues can be used for good and evil.
- God calls us to be consistent.
Devotions in Living Out Our Faith series
Stating in James 3: 5, James began talking about the fact that the control we have over our speech shows the state of our hearts and minds. He continued this discussion all the way through verse 12.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Blessing God but Cursing Others
“With it 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, these things ought not to be so” (Jas. 3: 9-10 ESV)
Our tongues can be used for good and evil.
The it James is talking about in verse 9 is the tongue. The things we can do with it are on a continuum.
We probably all know someone who is inconsistent with their speech. They are like Thor in Thor: Ragnarok. He tells the Hulk that he likes him better than Banner. Then he tells Banner that he likes him better than the Hulk.
This goes beyond that. This is dealing with someone being inconsistent with their love and hate. We give them the impression we love them with our blessings only to curse them in our hate when they are not present.
We talked once about the differences of being made in God’s image from a disciple’s viewpoint versus the worldview viewpoint.
Glossary
But what James is saying here is that we cannot bless God and curse people.
Think about it. The two greatest commandments are tied together. Matthew said that the second is like the first (Mt. 22: 39).
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk. 12: 30-31 ESV).
We don’t bless people when we curse them. When we are downright mean to them, we aren’t showing love.
Instead, we jump to judging them. This is especially true if they don’t believe in things as we do. (How many genders there are, who we should be allowed to love … Need I go on? There is judgment from both sides of the issues.)
Since God commands us to love others, we when aren’t, we aren’t showing love to Him.
But James was still talking about control in these verses. We need to control our tongues so that moral chaos does not ensue.
Plummer made a good point. He wrote, “… he thereby shows such a man [who doesn’t control his tongue] how vain it is for him to hope that the worship which he offers to Almighty God can be pure and acceptable.”
Resource
James connected this show of love to the tongue.
Plummer reminded us that James had talked about double-minded people (Jas. 1: 8). Here, it seems that he is warning against being double-tongued people. Plummer wrote, “Just as the double-minded man is judged by his doubts, and not by his forms of prayer, so the double-tongued man is judged by his curses, and not by his forms of praise.”
Resource
Bottom line is that God calls us to be consistent. We must follow His directions on how we are to live our lives and interact with others.
More Examples
“Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water” (Jas. 3: 11-12 ESV)
God calls us to be consistent.
James went on to talk some more about consistency. Can two natures be present in something?
Jesus had already answered that question — only He said masters, not nature. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Mt. 6: 24 NIV).
We don’t want our physical nature be our master. That has to be reserved for God.
Making the Connections
Chaunter made a really good connection for us. He wrote, “… the heart touched by the Holy Spirit should do the works of the flesh …”
Resource
We have to get down to the heart level. That is where our character is formed — the character that has to be changed so that we are truly in God’s image.
If we stay at the tongue level, we stay at the worldly, flesh level. James had some harsh words on this in verse 6. “And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (Jas. 3: 6 ESV).
That isn’t where we want to be.
When we make a profession of faith, it can’t be in words only. We have to show the sincerity of our salvation by changing our actions and lives.
How Do We Apply This?
- Be consistent in our speech.
- Bless others because we love them.
- Make sure we get to the heart level.
Father God. We want to have Your nature. Help us to show that through our speech. Let us be consistent in all we say. Amen.
What do you think?
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