November 15, 2024 - James 3

“The tongue is a small part of the body, yet it has great pretensions.  Think how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze.  And the tongue is a fire!” (3:5-6)  “A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it?  Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a vine produce figs?  Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water” (3:11-12)   James’ observations are so obvious; it seems as if they do not need to be stated.  And, yet, we need to hear these admonitions over and over.  At Baxter, we often rehearse the reality:  If it looks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, if it waddles like a duck, it’s a duck!  You can spot a duck by the way it appears.  In a similar fashion – though all of us, at one time or another, think to ourselves, “I really should not have said that!” – it’s pretty obvious who truly knows God by the way they talk.  The child of God, though far from perfect in these matters, refrains from gossip and ugly talk and frequently talks about God and his goodness.  Here is wisdom, that we constantly watch how we speak.

Happy the man who finds the grace,

The blessing of God's chosen race,

The wisdom coming from above,

The faith that sweetly works by love.

Happy the man who wisdom gains;

Thrice happy, who his guest retains;

He owns, and shall for ever own,

Wisdom, and Christ, and heaven, are one.   –Charles Wesley (1788)