Exercising Your Tongue

Currently we’re in a message series called “Faith Workout.” In this series we’re looking at many of the important themes from the book of James. James is a short book of five chapters in the New Testament. If you haven’t taken the time yet to read through it during this series, I would encourage you to do it this week. James is an intensely practical book that deals with many of the day to day issues we all face.

Today I’m going to talk about “Exercising Your Tongue.” When you exercise in a gym, you can exercise the right way or the wrong way. If you exercise the right way, you grow stronger, it benefits you and others. If you exercise the wrong way, it can hurt you and even others who may be around you. Some people think that what you say really isn’t that important. However Jesus taught that every word you speak is very important. NLT Matthew 12:36-37 “And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned.” Jesus is saying that on judgment day God is going to turn on his cosmic tape recorder and play back the words of your lifetime. Even idle careless words will be judged and the result of this final test will determine your destiny, heaven or hell. I want to learn to exercise my tongue correctly.

Our words can get us into a lot of trouble. At an outpatient surgery center, the anesthesiologist often chatted with patients before their operations to help them relax.. One day he recognized his patient as a co-worker at the hospital where he had trained. Speaking idly, he said, “So, tell me, is the food still as bad there as it used to be?” “Well, I suppose,” she replied, “I’m still cooking it.” Whoops, wrong exercise of the tongue. Our words can get us into a lot of trouble or our words can have wonderful effects.

Last week we talked about the importance of our actions and you might be thinking that your actions or more important than your words. Listen to what James says. NLT James 3:2 We all make many mistakes, but those who control their tongues can also control themselves in every other way. James is saying that if you can exercise your tongue correctly, you’ll be able to control your actions.

To hear more about this topic, listen to my September 2, 2007 message entitled Exercising Your Tongue