In the Bible, the letter written by James offers some wisdom that we should pay attention to.
A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in
the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word
out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or
destroy it!
It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed
word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony
to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in
smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.
We all display the ability to quickly adapt our surroundings: change our vocabulary because
someone just walked in the room. Change our selection of jokes when the group around us is
like-minded. Change our tone because we think we can get away with it. As humans, we have
the ability to do amazing things. My dad has a “story mode” that he slips into from time to time
in which he details all of the changes he has seen in his life. You’ll have that perspective as
well. Yet for all of our advances and abilities, we still wrestle with the seemingly simple task of
controlling our tongue. What did Jesus say? “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaks.” (Matthew 12:34) James warns us of the consequences – but Jesus shows us where to
start.
At JBar, we value Honest Communication, so let me level with you: We shouldn’t be impressed
with our ability to quickly “clean up” our language. We shouldn’t be impressed with our ability to
speak one way or the other depending on the audience. James warns us to watch what we say
because of the potentially disastrous consequences. Jesus reminds us that it is our heart that
needs the makeover. Both are worthy of our attention.
We are J-Bar — we are blessed beyond measure. We love — we are thankful beyond measure. We serve, and in so doing become the leaders that God wants us to be.