James 3:6 says, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
I learned firsthand about fire as a boy driving a wheat truck in harvest. Sitting in the old converted army truck, waiting for another dump of wheat, I saw black smoke coming from the tail end of the combine. The driver, my boss, quickly backed the machine back down the hill onto the level. I drove the truck to him and jumped out. Harold quickly untied the shovel from the front bumper of the truck, handed it to me, took the truck, and went after the cat and disc. I watched the fire burning around the motor. A fuel line had broken. The gas was on fire and spreading down the side of the combine. It ran onto the big tire, and from there to the ground. The patch of fire in the stubble was only a few feet in diameter when I tried to put it out. I threw dirt on it as fast as I could. The ground was hard. I couldn’t shovel dirt fast enough to stop the fire from spreading. About two more shovels full of dirt at that moment would have done the job. Soon the fire was out of control. The combine burned to the ground. Harold returned with the disc and was able to keep the fire to only a few acres in size.
James tells us that the tongue is a fire. In verse 5 he says, “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” Many homes and lands and lives have been lost to fire. The tongue has also done great damage to people. Things that are said cannot be unsaid. James 3:8 says, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” I have literally had to bite my tongue to keep from spewing out evil poison. Other times I didn’t bite soon enough. How about you?
Another time on a camping and fishing trip with my cousins we found ourselves shivering in the wet and cold of early morning. We were fishing along a little mountain stream. Since it had rained in the night, the brush and grass were dripping wet–and so were we. Our hands were freezing. It was a long way to camp. Someone had a few matches, so we tried to build a fire. We had a few candy wrappers and we found several little dry sticks under a tree bough. Very carefully we laid our miniature fire. Match one flared and went out. The second match did the same. Our last match flickered and then steadily kept burning. We were finally able to get a little fire going. We found more wood. Finally we had a big hot fire. We all took off our pants (no girl cousins there), and dried them by the fire. What a wonderful fire.
Fire can be in control or out of control. The tongue is the same. Though no man can tame it, God can. God made the tongue. God also made fire. If God could set a fireball in space and cause planets to circle around it for thousands of years and stay exactly the right distance from it to maintain comfortable temperatures, He can surely control fire.
If the tongue was connected to our teeth and wagged in our throat, possibly we could speak when we inhale. But the ears were made to take in, the tongue to reveal what is within. When Jesus is controlling our heart, the tongue will give a good report.
We can choose to let Him have control. One day we will use our tongues to sing His praises around the throne in heaven. We can also choose to shut him out and live with a tongue out of control. Sadly, we will find ourselves in the fires of hell begging for a drop of water on our tongue.
Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my Great Redeemer’s Praise!
