{"id":1895,"date":"2024-09-04T20:32:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T20:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.championforest.org\/articles\/?p=1895"},"modified":"2024-09-09T14:41:14","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T14:41:14","slug":"fireproof-your-tongue-how-to-avoid-words-set-on-fire-by-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.championforest.org\/articles\/2024\/09\/04\/fireproof-your-tongue-how-to-avoid-words-set-on-fire-by-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Fireproof Your Tongue: How to Avoid Words Set on Fire by Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.”<\/em><\/p>\nJames 3:5-6<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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I was hurt and angry, and hateful words smoldered behind my locked but loaded lips. Thank God (and I truly credit God himself), I held my tongue, which James 3:5 compares to a small spark that can set forests ablaze. Speaking my mind may have momentarily gratified my flesh, but my verbal retaliation\u2014set on fire by hell (see verse 6)\u2014would\u2019ve kindled a five-alarm event!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, for many years, my strong emotions frequently overruled God\u2019s still small voice that whispered, \u201cLet me quiet you with my love, quiet your emotions, thoughts, and words. Let me <\/em>do the talking. Give me room to work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have found that reckless outbursts wreck people and relationships and are never worth it; the best way to avoid the regret of rash words is to restrain them in the first place. It\u2019s always worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do we fireproof our tongues?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biblical Help to Tame a Fiery Tongue<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Heed the truth: the tiny tongue is capable of colossal carnage.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Miniature but mighty, the tongue is \u201ca world of unrighteousness…a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (3:5-6, 8). Its hurtful words have the power to shape our thoughts, beliefs, and decisions for a lifetime. It can inflict irreversible damage and alter another\u2019s course of life. If we dismiss our tongue\u2019s potential for destruction, we leave room for hell to accelerate fires wrought with wounding words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognize the helplessness of the flesh.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

While other beasts and creatures can be controlled by mankind, \u201cno human being can tame the tongue\u201d (3:8). I am not the exception, and neither are you. We cannot wage war against our tongue in our flesh, which Jesus declares \u201cno help at all\u201d (John 6:63). \u201cIt is the Spirit who gives life,\u201d he clarifies, so we must allow the Spirit to rule when our flesh rages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examine the heart.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

As God would have it, the following Sunday\u2019s sermon was all about our words. \u201cWord problems are heart problems,\u201d our pastor, Steven Morris, explained, a modern paraphrase of Jesus\u2019 own words in Luke 6:45 (ESV): \u201cThe good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If our words scorch people and relationships, we have a heart problem. \u201cAn honest look at our words will give us a clear view of our hearts,\u201d Morris emphasized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My desire to verbally assault my husband that day was my<\/em> heart problem, not his, no matter what lit my fire. I had to come to God with a true heart, which Andrew Murray describes as \u201ca heart that is wholly honest with God, and surrendered entirely to Him.”1<\/a><\/sup> With a true heart, we can echo King David\u2019s prayer in Psalm 51:10-11 (NIV), \u201cCreate in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we are honest with Jesus about the evil in our hearts and helplessness of our flesh, he is there to help! Author Dane Ortland would say that the very thing that makes us desperate for Jesus and doomed without him is that which draws him most intensely to us in compassion and kindness.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As God changes our hearts, it will change our words. I can testify: the more he cleanses my <\/em>heart, the gentler and kinder my tongue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose words of life.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Proverbs 18:21 (ESV) minces no words: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” James 3:10 (ESV) warns, \u201cFrom the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As born-again Christ followers, our words should reflect the new heart, new nature, and Spirit of God within us. That’s not to say we’re unsaved if we verbally assault someone, but our new heart is to be a spring of life (see Proverbs 4:23), even when our hearts smolder with intense emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few things that help me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n