Untamable

Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.  See how great a forest a little fire kindles!  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.  The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.  For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.  But no man can tame the tongue.  It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless our God nd father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.  Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brthren, these things ought not to be so.
James 3: 5-10 NKJV

I can't think of anyone whom I know personaly who has never been in a situation where harsh words have not been an issue at one time or another.  Indeed, I myself have fallen victim to this evil of speech as well.  At times it may seem like it is unintended, we will be going along in life fine, and then the fire comes out.  Whatever situation may arouse our wrath, many of us certainly have the ability to wound with our words.  For James, our Lords brother, lays claim that no man can tame the tongue.  I tend to agree with him.  For no matter how hard we may try, eventually we all will fall victim to one of the smallest parts of our bodies.  The warnings that we are given in the third chapter of James should be a warning to us to be on the lookout for such times when we lose self control.  However, it seldom works out that way.  It is disapointing that there is no internal switch in which one can disarm this instrument of destruction.  No, nobody is immune to this part of us.  It is through the tongue, according to James, where we both bless our Lord yet curse men, who are made in our Lords likeness.  But is it our tongue, after all, that is to  carry the blame for its  own actions?   Is the tongue independent of our bodies?  Answer this question  and we will get ot the heart issue of the iniquities of the tongue.

So Jesus said, "Are you still without understanding?"  "Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?  But those things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adultries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.  These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."
Matthew 15: 16-20 NKJV

As usual, we can turn towards the teachings of our Lord Jesus to understand this issue.  For when the Pharisees became offended by the very words of Jesus, he gave us a very important lesson.  For when his brother James claimed that it was our own tongues that were indeed untamable, Jesus made it clear that there is a larger issue at hand here.  In the fifteenth chapter of Matthew, our Lord makes a important distinction between the tongue and the heart of a man.  For it is not the tongue itself that produces the wickedness which proceeds from it, but that what comes from within comes straight from the heart!  Are our own hearts indeed so wicked?  Are we that soaked in wickedness that our own tongues can and will betray us?  I would argue against this, knowing the truth that within us dwells our own Lord and savior.

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ liives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galations 2:20 NKJV

Of course, seeing Pauls revelation that Jesus indeed resides within us, it is difficult for me to claim that we are indeed wicked within.  For Jesus indeed became sin, died and rose again in order to defeat the sin nature which once controlled us.  No, it is not wickedness that continues to define us.  Jesus died to remove that part of our history.  However, what remains is our own flesh, which continues to seek its own desires.  Can we link our hearts to that flesh?  Perhaps, and perhaps this is just what Jesus was getting to when he rebuked the protest of the Pharisees.  Whatever the case may be, once we understand that it is not our own tongues which bring forth harsh words, we can better understand our  own reactions.  For it is not that which enters into a man that defiles him, but that which comes out.

~Scott~