Wednesday: A Tongue of Praise or Cursing?

"For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water."     James 3:7-12

I encourage you to read this chapter in it entirety, but for the sake of length I only included the key verses. The tongues has so much potential both to uplift another and to put down another. There are so many people that tell me there is no where in the Bible that says you cannot swear. In fact what make those four letter words the bad ones? Why isn't "belt" a bad word, it has four letters? Well I believe that both these questions are answered here in James chapter three. James compares the tongue to a rudder that steers a ship. James uses the imagery of a spring. For a spring cannot produce both fresh and salt water. In fact if you have a glass of fresh water and add the smallest amount of salt then the whole glass is affected and all the water becomes salt water. In the same way our mouths cannot produce both blessing and cursing. This means that if we are able to praise God on Sunday's but Monday thru Saturday we swear then our praise is in vein for both cannot come from the same mouth. Therefore if you want to have a mouth that brings forth blessing and praise to God then there must be no cursing coming from your mouth or your praise and blessing will be in vein. For you cannot praise God yet curse others, which are His creation. For to love God is to also love people, for these are the two greatest commandments in the New Testament.

As far as what make those four letter words the bad words is not the actual word itself, but what these words mean and are used for. Each time these words are used are for cursing others or something. Now those who try to justify such words by saying they are only using them as an expression and not cursing it is important that you understand how these words are used in society. Anyone who hears someone say the F-bomb does not think, "oh he's just excited." These words are used for cursing and if you really want words for expression then why would you ever consider using the words that anyone who hears you would immediately assume you are not a Christian? For these words are associated in society as cursing, which in fact they are.