Sunday, March 11, 2001
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Sunday, March 11, 2001 |
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The terror behind our teeth needs all the help it can get By DR. DAVID L.
CHANCEY
There is a beast within our bodies that cannot be controlled apart from divine intervention. It is tiny, but has the potential to cause massive destruction. This beast can spew poison, or can heap praise. It is a picture of inconsistency. This beast is our tongue, the monster in our mouth, and the New Testament writer James says we need to put a bridle on it. More accurately, he writes that we can bridle horses and control their direction, but it's hard to tame the tongue. I heard of a pastor who had a church member who was a notorious gossip. She would stay on the phone all day keeping something going, or stirring something up. She came to the pastor one day and said, "Pastor, the Lord has convicted me of my sin of gossip. My tongue is getting me and others into trouble." The pastor was only human, so he couldn't help but doubt her sincerity since she had gone through this routine before. Guardedly he asked, "What do you think you should do?" She replied piously, "I want to put my tongue on the altar." Before he could catch himself, the pastor responded, "Sister, there isn't an altar big enough." James says we all stumble with how we use our tongues, and when we stop stumbling, then we are showing spiritual maturity. James also points out that the tongue is little, but causes big trouble. This small slab of anatomy can create a lot of havoc. Several years ago, our house's air conditioner went out. Actually, the fan was running, but the unit was not cooling. We sweltered through a stuffy night before the repairman came the next morning. He checked the unit in the basement, the fan unit outside and the little control box on the wall next to the fan unit. There was a problem in the box on the outside wall. Little black ants had gotten into the box and damaged an integral part, causing a disconnection that prohibited cooling. James reminds us, as we think about how much damage the tongue can cause, that it only takes a spark to get a fire going. Last September, a Wyoming woman was arrested for allegedly setting a fire that burned 83,000 acres in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Investigators said the woman admitted that she stopped by a roadside Aug. 24, lit a cigarette and tossed the burning match on the ground. Rather than putting the small fire out, she decided to leave the area, according to the court affidavit. More than 1,000 firefighters fought the blaze, which was finally contained Sept. 8. We can tame everything but our tongues. Our children's group at church recently traveled to see the circus. They saw all sorts of wild animals do tricks and circus stunts. It was entertaining, but also was amazing that a ten-feet-tall elephant weighing seven or eight tons could be trained to do those tricks. Every kind of beast, bird, sea creature and jungle animal has been tamed. But the tongue, as Williams put it, "is an evil incapable of being quieted." The tongue is inconsistent. The same tongue that sings praises in church on Sunday can curse at work on Monday. It can pray in the morning and rip people throughout the rest of the day. With God's help, we need to put much effort into controlling our tongues and our tone. We need to bless, encourage, build up, lift up and praise one another with our tongues. Several years ago a group of older men were gathered in the coffee shop poking fun at one another and belittling other acquaintances in an attempt at light-hearted humor. In high school, we used to refer to what they were doing as "cutting one another down." They weren't too complimentary as they were having a few laughs at the expense of others. One man in the group, however, didn't say a word. Finally, the group caught on that this man wasn't participating, and one said, "You sure are mighty quiet." "Yes," he said, as he sipped his coffee. "I decided sometime ago that I would not speak unless I could improve on the silence." The Rev. Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, Fayetteville. The McDonough Road family cordially invites you to join them this Sunday for Bible study for all ages at 9:45 a.m., and worship at 10:55 a.m. and 6 p.m.
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