Self-control is not a virtue that can be tucked away in one small portion of our lives. We have seen that it applies everywhere, and that when a people are self-governed, they are in a position to enjoy free government. It should be self-evident to us that a huge collection of slaves to sin are not going to be free citizens. Slavery breeds slavery, and freedom breeds freedom.
And a key area for us to examine whether we are self-controlled is the tongue. The Lord’s brother James draws a straight line between governance of the tongue and governance of everything else. He compares self-control here to a bit and bridle that enables a rider to direct a horse where it needs to go. “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain” (Jas. 1:26). “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body” (Jas. 3:2).
But there are two reasons why we want to be able to direct a horse we are riding. The first is to prevent it from going where we don’t want to go. The first is to keep us on the trail, to keep us from arriving at a destination we do not want. The second is to direct us positively, to actually arrive where we need to be.
When Christians think of sins of the tongue, and of a lack of self-control there, they almost invariably think of the things they wish they hadn’t said, the words they wish they hadn’t said. When horse and rider are off in the bracken, everyone knows about the poor horsesmanship. But what about an inability to get a horse to take more than several paces in any direction?
Men will not be able to speak the truth to governors, congressmen, and presidents when they are unable to tell their wives that they love them, their children that they are proud of them, or their parents how grateful they are. Control of the tongue includes much more than an ability to say whoa—it requires also a mastery of giddyup.
I can think of nothing more difficult as a Christian than holding the tongue. We praise the Lord in one sentence, and then backbite our neighbor in the next. The worst is what our tongues reveal of our hearts. I have spent the last two weeks delving into gossip because it is a terrible problem at our local church. When I really looked at it, i found that this pernicious sin extends far beyond stories told over the cattle fence or over a cup of coffee. It extends to what we watch on TV and read on the internet. Given… Read more »
A problem with the tongue may be anger. It may be gossip. It may be accusation (true or false) in an accusatory spirit. It may be lying.
Many find fault with one of these in others. I think we should caution ourselves over the sins of others with the tongue if we struggle with a different one.
The obvious conclusion to draw from this line of reasoning is that granting freedom to a people with poor self-control is not a good idea.
I don’t think we need to worry about it since they’ll sell themselves into slavery pretty quick.
Alas, in the USA even slaves get to vote.
“Men will not be able to speak the truth to governors, congressmen, and presidents when they are unable to tell their wives that they love them …”
Nor “No.”