All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.James 3:7-8
"A restless evil, full of deadly poison"—sounds like a poisonous snake, doesn't it? Snakes are wild. They are sneaky. A poisonous snake will bite you, and the poison can kill.
If the truth were known, a lot of people are just that: verbal vipers. Usually, verbal vipers specialize in gossip and secrets. Some verbal vipers specialize in slander. To slander is to lie about someone in order to cause harm. But you don't need to tell blatant lies to cause harm. You can slander simply by not saying a word.
If a verbal viper is slandering someone, and you say nothing to defend that person, then you have just become a slanderer too. Yes, we need to control our tongues. And sometimes that means speaking out in the face of a verbal viper.
But here's the deal. We can't tame our tongues. Not on our own. Only God can do that. But what we can do is go to him and ask him to help us. So when you feel the pull of slander, gossip and secrets pulling on you, ask the Holy Spirit to work in you to transform you from the inside out.
A Prayer for Today
Dear God, There are times when it can be so easily turned into a verbal viper. When I feel that temptation, help me to move past it. Help me to control my tongue so that I won�t become a hazard to those around me. And instead, help me to only build others up through my words. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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