Thursday 31 May 2012

Thursday Reading: James 3:2-6

Key Verse: James 3:5
5  Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

Devotion:
When was the last time that you got into trouble for saying something that you thought was not worth all the bother? Yesterday? First thing today? Or maybe you have learned the hard way and actually have been able to stop letting your tongue run away with things so much lately! I am sure that we have all been there at some stage when we have thought that others were making a big fuss about nothing. Equally we may well be able to think of a time when we were on the receiving end and we thought that what someone else said was the ‘absolute pits’ whereas they don’t know what we are all uptight about! Welcome to the real world!

The smallest of things are often used to change the big things in life. We are given horses with the bits in their mouths and ships with small rudders as being two things that we can relate to. When we see huge ocean liners turning in the sea we don’t often think about the small rudders or directional jets that do the turning. When we see aeroplanes flying through the air we don’t think of the seemingly small control surfaces (rudders, elevators and ailerons) that do all the work of changing the direction that the aircraft – what would the people in Jesus’ day think of aeroplanes!

Then we turn towards our ever useful (or useless, depends on how you look at them) leaders of various countries and we see how they can make or destroy countries just by saying the right or wrong things! Just by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time people can bring down countries and not just people. Then you get those leaders who seem to be able to talk more than you thought possible, but all the talk that they are able to bring forward is absolutely useless and worthless!

Something so small and hidden most of the time can make such a huge difference in our lives and the lives of those people around us; and at other times it cannot be silenced and does absolutely nothing more than give you a head ache! It can be the most useful thing in your body besides your brain because it can reach people you cannot see; our tongues are very versatile but they do need to be used in the right manner otherwise they will be used for breaking things down instead of building things up.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you praise others?

How often do you teach others?