James 3:3-5a

“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.”

The average riding horse is almost 6’ tall and weighs in at 1,000 lbs, yet a 5-inch bit in its mouth gives the rider nearly complete control over it. The average cargo ship that crosses the Atlantic is over 1,000’ long and can carry 16,000 storage units, yet the rudder is only about 20’ long. The impact of the human tongue, likewise, is amazingly disproportionate to its size, and that is the main point James is trying to make.

How many times have you thought, “I wish I had never said that?” How many times has that small part of your body opened the door to enormous problems? Scripture teaches us that the words, which proceed out of our mouths, portray the reality of what’s in our hearts (Lk 6:45), and that’s a sobering thought. Remember: the average adult speaks 18 to 30 thousand words per day, which amounts to a 54-page book. Over the course of a year your words will write 66, 800-page books.

So…what kinds of books are you writing?