Beware the Tongue

From the dawn of time the Lord has deemed it necessary to give direction about the use of the tongue. "Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am the Lord" (Lev. 19:16). "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile" (Psa. 34:13). "Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be" (James 3:9-10).

Though women have no monopoly on the game of gossip, we are often most adept as players. Under the guise of sharing "news" we appear eager to be always in the know regarding "current events" no matter how sordid. We carelessly disregard the admonition to "speak not evil one of another." Most of us at some time in our life have surrendered to the temptation to pass on tidbits that we should bury. The kindness and loyalty extended our sisters and brothers is often less than that extended to our fellow workers or social club members. How much better that we follow the admonition to "be ye kind."

We see God frowning on the tattler and busybody in rules given for determining what widow is worthy of support. He cautions us against helping especially the younger widows because of the temptations to which they may succumb. "[T]hey learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies speaking things which they ought not" (1 Tim. 5:13).

Wise is the woman who turns a deaf ear to random, gossipy words. Scandal cannot thrive without a listener! Wise, also, is the woman who learns to hold her tongue. The wise man declares, "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from trouble" (Prov. 21:23).

Someone has wisely observed, "Busy people have no time to be busybodies."

Solomon also has much to say about the contentious woman. It is never pleasant to be in the company of one who is constantly griping and finding fault. The incessant complainer needs to count the many blessings daily showered down by a loving Father. We need to learn thankfulness and gratitude.

James declares, "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:8). When one feels this goal is achieved, he lets down his guard only to find the job is unfinished. Because we cannot tame the tongue, we must always watch and guard it, lest it does harm and cause our own eternal condemnation.

Before giving them a piece of our mind, we should take stock and be sure we have a piece to spare. We need to guard continually against the wrong use of the tongue. "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment" (Matt. 12:36).

The tongue not only spreads gossip and discord, but is also used for profanity and vulgarity. Christians should never—under any circumstance—use filthy speech. In a recent radio interview, the host urged young people to clean up their speech. (Reckon where they learned to use profanity?) One young lady declared that cursing was necessary to profess one's disdain emphatically! Do we have such a limited vocabulary that we cannot use clean speech to communicate our thoughts?