For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison…
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:7-8, 17-18 ESV)
Pets and Hope
We once had a dog named, ‘Ding’ that we finally gave up on. He misbehaved, he was stubborn, too energetic, and either too smart or too stupid. When Ding started to growl at our young children it was the last straw.
We could not tame Ding.
Our failure does not contradict James’ statement about the taming of animals. While we failed to tame Ding, dogs like Ding have indeed been tamed. “Every kind of beast” has been tamed. Even difficult dogs.
But do not misunderstand James statement about our tongues. James is not saying, “our language is even worse than difficult animals! Shame on you! There is no hope for you!!!” Instead, James is saying that our language, our words, our tongues are beyond our skills, efforts, or willpower to tame.
But later in the paragraph, He tell us how even our tongues canbe tamed.
The methodology that tames tongues is found through a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That is what wisdom is. That relationship gives rise to pure instead of foul language. That relationship leads to peaceable and gentle people instead of harsh language. That relationship leads to reasonable, merciful, and good conversations instead of thoughtless, cruel, and evil language. That relationship leads to good fruit, impartial judgements, and sincerity instead of tragedy, injustice, and fake communication.
Sometimes we despair of taming our tongues, just like Ding.
But there is hope in our Redeemer, our Sanctifier, and our patient friend.
Take the hope God grants us.