Be Careful How You Talk

Be Careful How You Talk

New Testament Scripture:

“Just think how large a forest can be set on fire by a tiny flame! And the tongue is like a fire. It is a world of wrong, occupying its place in our bodies and spreading evil through our whole being. It sets on fire the entire course of our existence with the fire that comes to it from hell itself. We humans are able to tame and has tamed all other creatures—wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish. But no one has ever been able to tame the tongue. It is evil and uncontrollable, full of deadly poison. We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse other people, who are created in the likeness of God. Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth.” (James 3:5b-10a, Good News Translation.)

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This is a very strong statement, and maybe it is too strong . . . maybe it’s too pessimistic. After all, we are able to speak good words . . . speak the truth . . . speak words that help people.

Just think about how important speech is in our lives. If no one could talk, there would never be any schools, and no one would be able to learn anything. We would probably still be living in caves and wearing animal skins. If no one could talk, we would have a hard time telling our parents that we love them. If no one could talk, we would never learn about God.

As a matter of fact, God knows that we need to be able to talk. In the biblical book of Exodus, chapters 3 and 4, we read about God calling Moses to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt, and Moses gives God many reasons why he should not be the one to go to Egypt. One of the reasons Moses gives is that he doesn’t talk well. Moses says, “I am a poor speaker, slow and hesitant.” (Exodus 4:10b, Good News Translation.) Probably Moses had a stuttering problem, and maybe people had made fun of him because of his stuttering. He didn’t want to be around people, and he certainly didn’t want to lead them. But God wanted Moses to be the leader, so he promised to help Moses talk. God did this by using Moses’ brother to speak for him. All Moses had to do was talk to his brother, and his brother would talk to the people.

The point for us today is that God knows that talking is important.

However, in spite of the good things about being able to talk, James makes a good point. We sometimes use speech to do bad things. Sometimes we say mean things to other people. Sometimes we make up bad names for other people. Sometimes we don’t tell the truth. Sometimes we make promises that we can’t keep. Sometimes it seems that our talking is more inspired by the Devil than by God.

In the New Testament Gospels we are told about the time when Peter, who was one of Jesus’ most loyal disciples, promised that he would never deny his friendship with Jesus, but Jesus knew how weak we are, and he knew that Peter would not be able to keep that promise of loyalty. Jesus told Peter that he would deny Jesus very soon. Before the rooster crowed two times, Peter would deny knowing Jesus three times. (John 13:38.)

Have you ever lived on a farm or someplace else where you are around chickens? If you have, you know that roosters crow all the time. Jesus was saying that Peter would use his power of speech to lie about his relationship to Jesus, and Peter would do it very soon.

As Boy Scouts, we can use our tongues in good ways or bad ways.

“A Scout is friendly.” “A Scout is kind.” These two points on the Scout Law work together, and it is almost impossible to follow them without the use of good words. When a new boy joins the troop, say, “I’m glad you’re joining our troop. I will help you learn the things you need to know to be a successful Scout.” This is a friendly and kind thing to say. But sometimes our tongue is like a fire that burns people. Sometimes instead of saying, “Welcome,” we talk to other people and say, “Have you seen that new kid who joined the troop? He . . .” and we start talking trash about him. He’s too fat, or he’s too skinny, or he wears think glasses, or he has skin of the wrong color. We can always find bad things to say about anyone, and that’s why the tongue is a fire.

“A Scout is courteous.” “A Scout is cheerful.” These two points on the Scout Law also work together, and a well-controlled tongue will help us be courteous and cheerful. When you are doing something incorrectly and someone shows you the right way, you should say, “Thank you,” and say it with a good smile. That’s courtesy and cheerfulness. When your troop is camping and someone asks you to help clean up the dirty dishes, even though it’s not your turn, the courteous thing is to help and help cheerfully.

But it’s very easy, and probably more common for people to refuse to help and grumble about being asked to help. It is too common for people to complain when someone shows them a better way to do something. In other words, too often we use our power of speech to work against the Scout Law rather than to help fulfill it.

You can think of a lot of other ways that the way we use our tongues helps or hurts our obedience to the Scout Law, but me mention one more point:

“A Scout is clean.” I don’t think I need to say much about this. You know what “clean” means, and you know what “clean speech” means. We can use our tongues in a “clean” way or in an “unclean” way.

James was a pessimist when he thought about speech. He felt that people would never be able to control their tongues and use speech for good. He was not entirely correct, but he made a good point.

You should be like Moses. Trust God to help you to always use your tongue in the right way.

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