The Power of the Tongue

James 3:6

6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

There are times when I wish God would require mankind to "earn" the right to speak. The tongue is too powerful to be used carelessly. Lately I have been reminded of how destructive we can be with our words. Always ready to defend our actions, we allow our words to become our weapon of choice. The problem is we often do not choose our words with the wisdom they require. And more times than not, we leave a path of destruction that our victims rarely recover from. And for what? So we can be right, so we can feel vindicated or validated?

James described our tongues as being like fire. And like fire, the damage we inflict verbally can spread out of control with total destruction. So why aren't we more careful? Because we're selfish. Because we are insecure. Because we are afraid. We have been given a tremendous power through the use of our words. We have the power to build up and to tear down. We have the power to breathe life or cause total destruction. But even Peter Parker's Uncle knew that with great power comes great responsibility. Being careless with our words can't be an option. Letting our emotions overrule wisdom comes with too great a price. The bottom line is..."think before you unleash the beast." Lives are depending on it and we will be held accountable for the ones we destroy.