Watch what you say (2)

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” James 3:9-10
We read earlier about the power of words. All too often we say things, without thinking about the consequences. How many of us remember everything we said yesterday? Or, if that is not possible, how many of us remember saying things that might have been insulting, defamatory, or dishonest? As Christians, we should be asking God to help us purge these kinds of things from our lives. Our speech should be pure and edifying. We shouldn’t be repeating the crude jokes that we hear, or the sexual innuendos, in order to ‘fit in’ to whatever group we are with at the time. Nor should we be gossipping about people behind their back or being rude to their face. Jesus gave a high standard: “Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca’, is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matt. 5:22).
James gives us the reason here. Man is created in the image of God. John tells us, “If anyone says, ‘I love God’, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). For sure, we will come across many people in life who rub us up the wrong way. But we are not to curse them. The challenge to all of us today is to weigh up our words before we say them. Would we say it to Jesus, or in His company? If not, then don’t say it at all.