A Word Aptly Spoken

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire.

A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth 

can do that.  By our speech we can ruin the world, turn

harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the 

whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it...

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue-

It's never been done.  The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer.

With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same

tongues we curse the very men and women He made in His

image.  Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

My friend, this can't go on!

James 3:6-8,10

I am both professionally and personally acquainted with an engaging and very talented young woman in her mid-twenties.  She is smart, savvy, very political, and quite vocal about her beliefs and her life.  None of these attributes are negative; in fact, they are very much what makes her the fantastic person she is. She is a great fan of Facebook, and I enjoy reading her comments and diatribes on my daily general feed.

This week, however, her disgust with one particular faction of politics and public game-playing led her to use the F-word twice on her Facebook commentary, leading me to sigh and feel very, very sad.  I love this girl dearly, but even with that, her posted comment caused me to pause and my estimation of her to sink just a bit.  There is nothing wrong with passionate discussion on any subject, but the tongue doesn't need to rule the brain.  Young people do not seem to thoroughly understand that Facebook is a public forum and anyone can finagle around and get to your page, no matter your privacy settings.  Friends, family, co-workers, and employers can access public information.  What your mouth says on Facebook and Twitter matters.  It very, very much matters.  Employers regularly check Facebook pages, and the opinions formed from the comments displayed might not be the ones that you are hoping for.

I have really, really enjoyed reading chapter 3 of the book of James this week, using The Message as my chosen translation.  The message is so plain and so clear:  How can both praises and curses come out of the same Christian mouth and heart?  It does, unfortunately, but it shouldn't.  We are representing the King of Kings on this old earth, and as His people, we have an obligation to not muddy the waters with our own inappropriate commentary.  The next time I am tempted to spout out ugly words, I am going to endeavor to remember James - and zip my lip!!