Fear No Fear

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8, MEV). We talk a LOT. More than I think we were designed to. Adam and Eve didn’t have a lot to say. They were clearly capable of speaking. They communicated quite well. But we don’t have a lot of conversations with them. Once they spoke on a subject, they didn’t go on and on. As the scriptures progress, there is more of that. More talking even after something was spoken on. We see humanity falling in love with speaking. Nothing wrong with that IF we keep a watch on our motivations and actual words. Negativity is a mood killer. Speaking negatively is a great way to sow seeds we do NOT want the harvest from. And there is nothing WE can do about it. But we are not left adrift with the poor harvest our words often bring. No, we are given a spirit of self-control: HIS Spirit. We have the Fruit of that Spirit which we can grow in our own lives. We can lean into what God says on a subject and CHOOSE to speak in accordance with that – instead of however our own minds might be feeling. We were given this gift because God LOVES us. Because He does not want to see us getting ourselves into trouble. He wants to see our words match His. Our harvest matching the one He designed and wants for us. Using our self-control (which is HIS self-control) to bless those around us. To build each other up. To worship. To be positive and abundant livers of life. We can’t tame the tongue, but thanks to God’s love for us, we can change the fuel that it uses.