The Tongue
The sin of the tongue is probably the greatest sin of all times and James, chapter 3, is one of the best places to read of the tongue. Men are able to put a bit in a horse's mouth and turn his whole body around. Men can control ships, airplanes, and all the other great machines of today. The tongue is so small, yet why cannot men press a button or turn a dial and turn it off? You have seen tame animals such as porpoise, elephants and lions. Man has tamed nearly all types of animals. Before animals are tamed, they are kept in a cage or restrained. If they were not restrained before they were tamed they might hurt or kill someone. The first part of James 3:8 says, "But the tongue can no man tame." This is not to say that we cannot keep from committing the sin of the tongue. The tongue cannot be tamed, but it can be restrained such as the animals in the cages, A fountain cannot yield both fresh water and salt water. If you were to hook two pipes to a fountain, one containing salt water, the other containing fresh, it would yield salt water, not fresh. Therefore, a person going to work cursing, lying, and doing other evils with his tongue, and then attending church and acting like a Christian, would not be good, but evil. People will curse in front of one of their friends, but as soon as one of the brethren approaches, they stop and try to hide what they did. They deceive no one but themselves, they cannot hide it from God. James 1:26 sums up what I have said, "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is in vain." When you read this, you may say, "I do not steal or kill, or anything like that; God would not condemn me for telling a lie or offending someone." But He will, unless you repent.
Grand Prairie, Texas