The Little Tongue

Man has learned to harness or control many things down through the ages. He discovered fire and learned to control it to keep him warm and cook his food. Rushing rivers are harnessed to water our crops and light our homes. The awesome force in the atom has been taught to be of benefit to man and we have tamed wild horses. The one thing man has not yet tamed is his tongue. James 3:5 says, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison.”
I heard a story about a woman who had no good word to say about another in her neighborhood. As the story goes she was always complaining about the bad girl who lived down the block. How this girl drank and ran around and should be run out of the neighborhood. This bad girl was a real bad influence for the only child of the gossip. She was certain the bad girl knew not to speak to her or her child. One day the screaming of brakes from a speeding car, the sound that could only turn your blood cold was heard. As the sound of the impact of a body with metal we all looked as this only child of the gossip was seen running into the street. All the neighbors rushed to the scene to find the child was shaken but safe. But under the wheels of the car was a lifeless form. As the woman held her child she screamed who could have done such an unselfish thing. As the broken lifeless body was covered she was told it was the bad girl who lived down the block.
The tongue can accuse. It can spread bad news and sow the seed of destruction. Unless you have made no mistakes in your life be careful the stones you throw.
The most destructive evidence of a wagging tongue is in the church.
Do you know that your pastor is defenseless against gossip? He’s often the last person to hear a rumor, especially if it involves him.
For instance, someone gossips that the pastor does not visit enough in the community. That is one of the hardest rumors to disprove, because nobody’s sure how much pastoral visiting is “enough”. And usually the guy who says the pastor does not do enough is not doing any himself.
Even if the pastor makes all the visits his schedule will allow, it only takes one disgruntled mouth to start a rumor by whispering that, “the pastor is lazy and does not visit”. Then if the pastor takes his family on a picnic or to a ball game, some member sees him, assumes, and the gossip gets new life.
Another insidious bit of gossip implies that the pastor does not study like he should. While it is true that some pastors coast from sermon to sermon, that is not the case with most ministers. However, no matter how well a minister prepares, there is always somebody who thinks he did not.
Proverbs advises, “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from trouble”. (Prov 21:23)
The tongue can accuse. It can spread bad news and sow the seed of destruction. Unless you have made no mistakes in your life be careful the stones you throw.