Bridling our tongues with the Word

UV 353/10,000 James 1 v 19 Bridling our tongue with the Word Jas 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: The image that James had while writing the Lord’s instructions regarding the use of our divine gift of communication is apparently that of a rider of a horse. Communication is the USP of humanity-it is one of the areas we have a striking likeness to the Creator’s image as He too revels in communication. Our power of communication is the source of our “ horse power”. The tongue is like a wild horse that has to be tamed, to be trained to run at a slow pace lest it throw us off to injure ,maim or kill us. Christopher Reeves, the famous actor who played the role of Superman was thrown off by his horse in a manouevre and he was maimed for life, eventually to die early of related injuries. Many of us also often run into trouble headlong on account of our inability to control the “ horse” inside our mouths. If we ride it without a proper saddle, the results could be sad. James says that we must bridle the horse. He who bridles his tongue is perfect. He who bridles his tongue bridles his life and is able to make it go the way he wants. No wonder during our police training, we spent a whole week learning the niceties of saddle management before being allowed to mount the horse. The saddle is a heavy piece of leather connected with all the harness needed to control the horse. The Word of God is our bit and bridle. Just as a horse’s mouth is closed over a bit, our mouths and minds should always bite on the Word. The reins to slow down our speech are the warning in scripture that we will be judged for every word we speak carelessly or in anger. The reins are connected to either side of the horse’s head so that a gentle tug is enough to make it move left or right. Our eye piece that keeps our communication focused like the eye piece that keeps the horse on track and undistracted must be in place. Our mouth must be muzzled so that we do not speak words in anger. Righteous anger or divine passion should be like stirrups that goad the horse to go faster at times. At other times we should trot slowly as long as these stirrups are not used. We should grip our “tongue horse” firmly between the thighs of reason and truth as a rider would a speeding horse. Our ears should be pricked up like a horse’s to pick up signals and our Master’s command of when to go faster, when to slow down and when to stop. We must chew whatever we hear before we speak or react. The thumb rule is that we must speak only half the time we spend in listening. As long as the bridle of the Word of God is in place, the tongue will take us places. It will be an asset and not a liability. It will even help us jump over several barriers in our lives. It takes a lot of practice and training to tame a wild horse. Similarly, it often takes lifelong training and practice to perfect the tongue as an obedient and wholesome tool of communication. We must invite the master trainer, the Holy Spirit to train and ride our tongues and to keep all the aspects and elements of our saddle management in place. Human wisdom through the ages has said that speech is silver and silence is golden. But , the Word of God says, “ An apt word spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” In our silence, we are like polished silver that reflects the glory of God but our carefully crafted, chosen, designed and formulated words are like a beautiful motif of apples of gold against that splendid setting. In other words, speech that is saturated with the Word is like gold and silence is silver. Prateep v Philip