The Sharpest Weapon in the World!

26If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his own tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. 27Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted (or unpolluted) from the world.

James 1:26-27

When James talks about bridling the tongue he's using the analogy of bridling a horse and keeping a tight reign on the horse to direct it wherever you want.Just as when you ride a horse you have to keep a tight hold of the reigns to keep the horse to go astray, so we need to keep an even tighter hold of our tongue.The tongue defiles the whole body.Haven't you ever wanted to eat your words as soon as they shoot out of your mouth?I know I have!Statistics say that with every 1 negative comment that you hear, it needs to be backed up by 6-12 positive comments.Negative words have so much of an impact on our lives that if you try to remember the last argument you've had with someone, you could probably remember every negative word.When you try to remember positive compliments someone has given, the negative words come into mind so much faster than the positive.This is exactly why Jesus warns us so often in the Bible to watch what we hear or say.It makes so much sense if we would just pause and think about it, Jesus is so practical.Seriously bad words are horrible!If I was walking down the street with a friend and they were a good witness, praying and forming relationships, but then something upsets me and I let 1 bad word fly; "what is the one thing that the people around us are going to remember?"How Christ-like my friend was or the 1 word that I let fly.Most likely they'll remember the one bad word that I said instead of all the great things my friend was doing.My witness as a Christian was at that moment shattered. God created us that way, that is why He is so emminent about His warnings to us about the tongue.I pray that each and every person that reads this would stop and ask God's forgiveness on all of the destructive things we've said.I also am praying that you will actually try to watch what you say from now on.Next time you think about letting your words fly when someone pushes your buttons, think before you speak.Ask yourself, "is this uplifting or encouraging" and most of all, "would I say this if Jesus were standing right here?"(but is God listening anyways, yea, but most often we forget that and just spout off at the mouth) Definitely stop and consider the next time you want to talk gossip behind someone's back, yell at someone, or even just tear someone down with your words.It's not right!