Articles
How Long
I once heard a lesson, "HOW LONG WILL GOD BLESS AMERICA!!". Have you ever given thought to that question. God has always had limits. He brings nations up and takes them down as He sees fit. Sin will take any nation down, eventually. As Christians we need to always try our best to do our part as our short lives quickly go by. Sodom and Gomorra among others comes to mind when thinking of nations, and cities that God took down. If we go back in history we find none of the world powers lasted too long. Even the Roman Empire, as great as it was. There was a reason for that. So, the question remains, HOW LONG WILL GOD BLESS AMERICA?
James, in chapter three, gives several warnings. Among these is the discussion of how dangerous a small part of our body is -- THE TONGUE. Notice some of his words:
"So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell." (James 3:5,6)
"With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way." (James 3:9.10)
We have all been guilty of using the tongue in the wrong way. We find in the Scriptures many warnings of the way we use our tongues and how dangerous it is
to fall into many sins of unrighteousness. Paul points this out to the church at Rome in the Roman letter, chapter one.
"...being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are GOSSIPS, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventers of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."(Romans 1:29-32)
Notice the many sins of the tongue listed in the above Scripture. Not only are they direct misuse of the tongue, many lead to other sins. It's easy to see how dangerous this small part of the body, the tongue, is. This is one of those things that needs constant attention and care on the part of each of us. Gossip is easy to fall into as we communicate with other Christians. Sometimes we are not aware of how dangerous our words may be. We do so unintentionally at times, but maybe we need to remember what God tells us about our speech:
"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear." (Ephesians 4:29)
Would it be good to think about what we are about to say in the light. "will it edify or not". Words can be very hurtful.
"For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement. "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.". But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. But I say to you, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." (Galatians 5;14-16)
Let us use caution in the use of our tongues every day. We need to take Jame's warnings to heart, and do our best to make sure we engage our minds before we do our tongues. I have been told "the big difference between mules and horses" is that mules think before they act, and horses do not. Not sure about that, but I've been told.
Ross
