TAMING THE TONGUE
LESSON FOR JUNIORS
Study Scripture: James 3
Lesson 12 August 22, 2020
Key Verse
“So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such s small fire!
James 3: 5
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever asked yourself why God gave you a mouth and a tongue?
That must’ve been a great gift for your mouth allows you to speak and to sing like an angel sometimes. And on top of that your mouth allows you to enjoy your favourite candy and ice cream and other goodies.
Can you imagine what you would do when you saw those things that were so nice and looks so good and you didn’t have any means of enjoying them or singing and doing the other things that you’d like to do with your mouth?
And on top of that you know that when you are eating an ice cream cone or sometimes a candy you like you twirl it inside your mouth with your tongue moving it up and down in your mouth so that you got every beautiful taste out of it.
If you’re the kind of person who likes to smile a lot at other people, and kiss your favourite brother and sister, and mom and dad or your favourite aunt and uncle and as well your grandmother and grandfather your mouth allows you to do that.
But it also allows you to frown at other people when they say things that you do not like and you can make up your mouth and your face to make them know what you think.
So the book of James teaches us that all that might be wonderful, but your mouth and your tongue is a dangerous part of your body.
Your tongue allows you to
-say things that will offend others even if you do not really have a great case against them
-say things that will hurt another person
-say things that will tell something that is not true for you want to deceive or trick others
-say something that will end up leading someone in the wrong direction. Maybe they might even get injured by going in the wrong direction.
Sometimes you hear young and old persons saying a foolish proverb which is a terribly false even though many people believe that it is true. You hear over and over again people saying:
“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me”.
But that statement is not true at all. The words that we speak can hurt and injure another person and once we say those words which hurt others we can’t take these hurtful words back whether we want to or not.
The Bible tells us in James 3:10 that we can use the same mouth and tongue to bless others and curse them a little time afterwards. We often use the same tongue to bless God or even praise God and then use the same tongue to curse God. The Bible tells us that this should not be so.
James tells us that it is very difficult and almost impossible to control your tongue. The tongue can be used to do great damage and start fires that cannot be put out.
So he advises that we should put our mouth and our tongue under the control of the Holy Spirit for only He has the ability to control this very unruly member of our body.
God aims for us to learn to master the tongue. If we do that we will be spiritually mature.
So think very carefully about the words that come out of your mouth. Use your mouth and your tongue to bless others. Do not use your tongue to curse others. God wants you to tame your tongue.
Use your mouth and your tongue to honour God. Be a blessing.