7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,[c] these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

James 3:7-12 (ESV) 中文 

Taming a tiger

How many of us have been to a circus and seen all kinds of animals and reptiles tamed to perform? Huge elephants, ferocious lions, and even slithering venomous snakes are all on display. How about an aquarium where fish of all sizes – especially mammals like the ever popular dolphin or killer whale? Continuing the tongue topic, James now gives us examples from nature that his readers can relate to – and us even more so now. 

We (mankind) are able to tame all these kinds of living things in nature, but we cannot tame our own tongue. “There’s a great story about a time when John Wesley was preaching on this week’s Gospel, and after the service, a really hot-headed woman approached Wesley and said,’ You know what my talent is?  My talent is to SPEAK MY MIND’, and she had her finger right in the preacher’s face. Wesley paused and then very calmly said, ‘Madam, God wouldn’t care a bit if you would BURY that talent!’” (sundaygospeltalk.com)

Deadly poison

James describes again the evil of the tongue. There’s no other way to describe it. So much damage is caused by the words that proceed from our mouth. But as we shared in the last post, the tongue itself is not the problem. Jesus told us, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45 ESV)

Water paradox and fruit

The second natural example James calls on is a spring. It is impossible for a spring to produce both fresh and saltwater. Why not? The water from a spring comes from rainwater (which is fresh to start with) that seeps into the ground. Gravity pulls it through the soil which naturally filters it down into a reservoir. If only we would apply a filter system to the thoughts that come into our hearts! Even better, if we would only let fresh water (from the Word – Eph. 5:26) even enter our minds rather than all the garbage we read and watch and listen to.

Likewise, a salty pond (think of the Great Salt Lake) can never contain fresh, drinkable water. All the water collects on the surface; there is no filter. As well, fig trees produce figs naturally and grape vines, grapes. It cannot happen any other way. It’s fixed in their genes.

RЯeflection

• How are you doing at taming the tongue tiger? 
• Do you apply a filter system to your thoughts? Do you pay attention to what you watch, listen to, talk about so that we dwell only on, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:8-9).