We all understand what the phrase “jumping to conclusions” means. But we sometimes do not appreciate what the alternative–reserving judgment–actually means. As we live together in covenant community, it is essential that we master the art of “not jumping,” even if the conclusion looks to us like a safe landing place. This is particularly the …
Faithfulness Covers
As we labor to learn how to speak as Christians, we have to take care to learn our lessons from Scripture. This is because sin is always defined by God, and not by our own instincts. We must always define sins of the tongue according to the Word. Scripture says that a “talebearer revealeth secrets: …
Separating Friends
We learn from James that the tongue is a destructive force in the lives of men. We learn from Proverbs all the different ways in which this destruction comes. For one example, “A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends” (Prov. 16:28). Whenever a crop of strife arises, we know from the …
The Rudder of All Wisdom
James tells us that the one who can control his tongue can control anything (Jas. 3:2). He says in the same verse that we all offend in many ways. The clear implication is that none of us have full control of our speech-for if we did, we would not be offending in “many things” the …