You can’t tame the tongue, you only hope to subdue it.

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Social media represents the untamed tongue like nothing else in history. Vast expanses of opinions, complaints and attacks on anyone and everyone. When James wrote this line 2,000 years ago—the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness—doesn’t it sound like he wrote it this week?

Self-control faces no stronger test than the tongue. All I know to do is to ask the Holy Spirit to guide my language, to count to 10 when angry, to walk away while I can. Then, when all this fails, to seek forgiveness.

Because you can’t tame the tongue, you can only hope to subdue it.

James 3 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Johannes Krupinski