Using our Tongue for God and for Good

On a windswept hill in an English country churchyard stands a drab, gray slate tombstone. Bleak and unstable, it leans slightly to one side. Beaten thin and slick by the blast of time.

The faint etchings read:
Beneath this stone, a lump of clay,
Lies Arabella Young,
Who on the twenty-fourth of May,
Began to hold her tongue.

What a study in contrasts the tongue is! To the physician, it’s merely a two-ounce slab of mucous membrane enclosing a complex array of muscles and nerves that enable our bodies to chew, taste, and swallow. How helpful! Equally significant, it is the major organ of communication that enables us to articulate distinct sounds so we can understand each other. How essential!
Without the tongue no mother could sing her baby to sleep tonight. No ambassador could adequately represent our nation. No teacher could stretch the minds of students. No officer could lead his fighting men in battle. No attorney could defend the truth in court. No pastor could comfort troubled souls. No complicated, controversial issue could ever be discussed and solved. Seldom do we stop to realize just how valuable this strange muscle in our mouth really is. In fact, Brother Rob McCorkle in our recent revival reminded us that according to Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…”.
The tongue is as volatile as it is vital. It was Washington Irving wo first said, “A sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener with constant use.” It was James, the half-brother of Jesus, who first warned: “The tongue is a fire….a restless evil and full of deadly poison. (Ja. 3:6,8)
Verbal cyanide. A lethal, relentless, flaming missile which assaults with hellish power, blistering and destroying at will. And yet it doesn’t look anything like the brutal beast it can be.
Scripture says not only is the tongue untamed, it’s UNTAMABLE! Which means….as long as you live it will never gain control of itself. It defies being tamed. That’s INCREDIBLE! We can tame Flipper and Trigger and Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. We can train falcons to land on our wrists, pigeons to carry our messages, dogs to fetch the paper, elephants to stand on rolling balls, tigers to sit on stools, and alligators to turn over and get their bellies rubbed. But the tongue? Impossible to train!
Many men have offered counsel on how to keep our tongues checked and caged. Publius, the greek philosopher, put his finger one a techniques we often forget when he admitted: I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. King David put it even more bluntly in Psalm 39: 1 “I will guard my ways, that I might not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle.”
That’s what it takes. A tight, conscious muzzle in your mouth so that we are speaking less about what we do not need to speak about, but on the other hand, commit in our heart to speak MORE of the words of life that we find in His word that will help set people free. As you read through the gospels, Jesus did this all the time. So let’s be listening to what our Father wants said, and say it as our paths cross those to whom He wants us to minister. “Thank you Father that our tongues can be controlled by You to glorify You and accomplish Your work.”