Connect360: Taming the Tongue

  |  Source: GC2 Press

Lesson 6 in the Connect360 unit "The Making of Authentic Faith: Wisdom that Works" focuses on James 3:1-12.

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  • Lesson 6 in the Connect360 unit “The Making of Authentic Faith: Wisdom that Works” focuses on James 3:1-12.

Pastors and teachers are messengers from Christ and ambassadors for students to learn. Teachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ are held accountable and given a higher responsibility from God to speak sound doctrine and watch how and what they teach. Many spiritual lives and souls are at stake. A preacher can say something wrong, and the followers can hear and take the wrong advice marking their thinking for a long time. A teacher, likewise, must make sure that what is taught or said is correct.

James warned that many should not become teachers. He talked about them being judged severely like pastors. When I was teaching in education, one of my principals talked about a subject he had taught and how badly he taught the student. He shared with the teachers, as he was giving them warnings about teaching incorrect information. He taught the students poorly on a subject he did not know well. The principal said he looked for these students years later to apologize for teaching them so poorly on that subject. The principal recognized, unfortunately for the students at the time, that he had been a disservice to them by teaching them wrongly. He had used his mouth to give incorrect information.

Small things are powerful

The imagery James uses in chapter 3 of bits being put into mouths of horses to guide them and large ships guided by the small rudders staying intact during strong winds is impactful. He paints the picture of how forest fires can be started by a spark. We often see that happening with the many forest fires we experience in our country. We know firsthand how the fires have caused enormous devastation to many. Through these examples, we see how small things are powerful. They can be helpful too, but small things can also bring devastation and hurt to others like the spark.

We have seen during this past century how false information about different races has been transferred from generation to generation causing disaster and hurt to others. Unfortunately, hate in the mind that is transferred to the tongue causes devastation. False words and information can cause radical behavior. It becomes that spark in a forest that reaches so many, causing so much damage before it is smothered out. The loss and hurt could be avoided if others would speak truthfully and kindly.

Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for GC2 Press, formerly known as BaptistWay Press.

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