James 3:3-6: Tongue can corrupt you

In early 1967 I had just turned 18-years-old and was working in an old-style gas station on Highway 66 in Flagstaff, Ariz., hoping I would not be drafted. I lived much differently then than I do now. One night I had been drinking and was hanging out in a parking lot outside a café. Some of my friends were talking in a corner of the parking lot when another group of guys called me over to talk to them.

I went over and started a conversation with them. It wasn’t long until they accused me of talking about them behind their backs, which I knew I had not done! An argument began and I finally told them I wasn’t talking about them because I never thought about them. They didn’t seem to think that was the way to respond to them.

I was dealing with six of them versus one of me. They threw me on the pavement and started kicking me. I figured this event wasn’t going to work out so well for me! Out of the corner of my eye I could see a friend of mine running across the parking lot toward me and the six guys kicking the tar out of me.

My pal zeroed in on the biggest guy kicking me and slugged him with all he had while running full force! The kick-fest broke up while my pal beat the tar out of the big guy! The fight ended right there. My friend saved me from my own tongue!

Here is what happened, I got a smart tongue and it cost me bruised ribs! Did you know your tongue can corrupt you and mess up your life? It can and my tongue did me no good that night!

Jesus’ half-brother, James talks about the tongue in James 3:3-6; “(3) When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. (4) Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. (6) The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

James uses three examples to illustrate the great power to corrupt that the tongue has. A small bit in the mouth of a great horse can turn the entire large animal in whatever direction you want the horse to go. Ships can be large but are directed by a small rudder that controls the entire ship. The tongue can be a spark that sets an entire forest on fire.

The point is the tongue is small but has the power to direct you and set fire to your life and wreck, corrupt and destroy you!

James goes so far as to say the tongue is a world of evil among the parts of the body! James is talking about us personally when he says the tongue corrupts the whole person and sets the whole course of his life on fire!

Think about the tongue, which stands for what we say verbally. Not only can our tongue affect others, but it affects us first. If you have been told you’re a loser by your parents long enough you begin to tell yourself you’re a loser! You begin to be what you say you are. I remember saying when I was between the ages of 16 and 22 that I was a party-animal. What did I become? A party animal!

What you say about yourself can corrupt you and blow you up! In fact, we all need to be careful about what we say about ourselves because those things we say come true!

If your tongue has been setting your life on fire and blowing it up, I have a suggestion about how to reverse that trend. Start saying this to yourself and others. Romans 10:9-10, “(9) That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For it is with the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (NIV)

It’s this simple, begin by confessing with your mouth “Jesus is Lord.” Proclaim Jesus Christ is your ruler every day and do it more than once. He will begin to rule and put the fire out!