My Mouth

If you thumb through my Bible, you're going to find many verses highlighted, marked and paper-clipped. What do the verses have in common? My mouth.

I have trouble with my mouth. Do you? Sometimes I put my foot in it. Other times, I open it way too quickly and spew out things I'd just as well should not have said.

My mouth is my biggest blessing and my biggest curse. -Gotta get a handle on that mouth. Friends and family would appreciate it.

James had a good idea about the mouth. He wrote about it in the Bible. Just check out these verses referring to the "tongue" (i.e. the mouth):

"When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.

"Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

"All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

"Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." ( James 3:3-12)

Hmmmmm....sounds like God is concerned about what we say. Maybe I should be, too.

I'm gonna keep reviewing those mouth verses. Watch for more "tongue-taming" verses in the future!