Scriptural Series: Controlling Your Tongue
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The last few months have been a blessing. I have learned and unlearned many things, and I am grateful to God for this. Some days ago, I was sitting in a cell group where we were discussing “honoring our leaders,” and the person leading the discussion said that to honor our leaders, we need to control our tongues. This phrase struck me. “Controlling my tongue.” Immediately, two verses jumped into my mind.
For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. — James 3:2 (NKJV)
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil [i]treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. — Luke 6:45 (NKJV)
So, why did these verses jump into my mind? Recently, I have had a lot of mental battles where the devil speaks (in the first person) to me and tries to bring me into sin. After struggling for a while, I realized that keeping silent was not helpful. So I started speaking the word of God to counter these thoughts. I could be working when the thoughts come; I start speaking out God’s word. I noticed that the more I spoke, the less power these thoughts had, making it easier to control my body.
The tongue has the power of life and death (creative and destructive power) — Prov 18:21. Therefore we should control it, but we cannot control it directly because our tongue (what we say) is connected to our heart — Luke 6:45.
If our hearts are full of evil, we cannot speak about anything good. Therefore, we need a way to cleanse and renew our hearts before we can talk right.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. — Prov 18:21 (NKJV)
The analysis above naturally raises the question: how do we cleanse and renew our hearts?
While I am also in the continual process of learning to cleanse and renew my heart, the solution looks simple but takes some effort to implement. To cleanse and renew our minds, we need to replace the wrong thoughts in our minds with the right thoughts.
Let us look at children as an example. When children are born, they are almost in a pristine state. They have no idea of the world, and they are helpless. Kids’ minds get trained from instruction, observation, and the environment. These are important to ensure that kids become proper adults (within their cultural or societal context).
We can draw a parallel using the example above. Our minds are cleansed and renewed by instruction, observation, and the environment. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God instruct our minds. They show us the right thoughts to think about as well as the characteristics of the right thought.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. — Phil 4:8 (NKJV)
Further, we observe and study the lives of Christians walking with God and apply the lessons learned from them to our personal lives. Finally, we join a community of believers seeking to grow in faith. It is important to note that we cannot walk with Christ in isolation from other Christians. We need fellowship, encouragement, and an avenue to share our victories or losses to sin to hold us accountable.
God’s word is powerful, and I am awed by the logic embedded in it as well. I know that I cannot control my body by willpower alone. I also realized I could not control my tongue by will alone. However, as I began to learn and grow in the Word of God, walking with the saints and learning from the saints, my life began to change. Temptation lost its luster; I could control my mind, then my body followed suit. Therefore, I encourage you to renew your minds daily and see the wonder that occurs.
