Daily Devotion 08/07/18
James 3:5b-6 Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
The tongue is a small muscle and yet it is powerful. James compares it to a spark. A spark is a small thing but it can be very beneficial when contained. When I go to my backyard and create a spark, it leads to a contained fire in my grill. There, I can cook my food. But when a spark isn’t contained, it is deadly. Look at the recent wildfire out in California. A spark led to over 100,000 acres of land burned as the fire could not be contained. In a similar way, our tongue can be deadly when we don’t control it. Our words, though seemingly small, pierce and sting when uncontrolled. Consider wars started, friendships broken, marriages separated, and lives ended because of words. So control your tongue today, so that the words you speak are beneficial for building others up and keeping their focus on Christ.
Father in heaven, I praise you because you know exactly what I need to hear in every situation. Thank you for your Word which is beneficial for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness. Guard my tongue today that the words I speak may be a blessing to others. Amen.