Contradiction or Consistency?
“So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things…With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.”
James 3:5, 9-12
One of my favorite cartoons when I was a kid was an old Warner Brothers story from 1942 based on the Dr. Seuss children’s book, Horton Hatches the Egg. This is not to be confused with the more well-known story, Horton Hears a Who. The story begins with Horton merrily singing a song he can’t quite remember the lyrics to when he comes upon a conniving bird named Mayzie, a lazy bird hatching an egg. She sees Horton coming and hatches a plan. She decides to convince Horton to sit on her nest and keep the egg warm so she can go on vacation and relax. Horton faces a horrible time with rain, snow, and blazing heat. He faces ridicule as an elephant sitting on a tree keeping an egg warm (I did mention this was a children’s story). He is captured but he will not give up his post. He had given his word. Through the story he repeats often, “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful 100%.”
As cute and strange as this story is, it teaches a profound concept. We should mean what we say and say what we mean. Our word is our bond. There should be utter clarity and complete consistency in what we say regardless of the situation we are in or the people who are around. James points out the utter hypocrisy of praising God one day then turning around and cursing out our neighbor the next. This ought not be. It doesn’t make sense any more than a spring can produce both fresh and salt water or a fig tree can bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs. We shouldn’t “talk out of both sides of our mouth.”
Much of what James says is an echo of what Jesus taught in the gospels. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says this, “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of the evil one” (Matt 5:37). James has been talking of how dangerous the tongue is. He compares it to a wildfire that is set aflame by a spark. Even though it is small it boasts great things and can get us in a world of trouble. He says that no one can tame the tongue by himself without the power of the Holy Spirit.
One aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Self-control is defined as, “The virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites.” Practically speaking, we need to recognize that we are powerless in ourselves to control our tongue. But by God’s grace through the power of the Holy Spirit, he can give us the self-control to be able to bring our tongue under control. The clear mark of self-control is consistency in our speech. To paraphrase the children’s story we should say, “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. A Christian’s faithful 100%.” God desires constancy, honesty, and graciousness in all the words that come out of our mouths.
