Monday evening, August 11, 2008 [ONLY 78 degrees!]
Having seen pictures of the blazing, roaring forest fires that have occurred at various locations around our nation, we are all aware of their devastation. Without exception, these terribly destructive fires are started by relatively small flames—a camper’s match, an arsonist’s torch, a smoker’s cigarette butt, or a thunderstorm’s lightning bolt. Once started, however, their destruction is widespread and merciless, their course is relentlessly pursued, and nothing is spared their fierce rage. The devastation that is left behind is incomprehensible—acres and acres of blackened earth, the cremated remains of innocent people and animals, the smoke-stained rubble of once-beautiful houses, and the charred stubble of once-beautiful, pristine forests.
Interestingly, James compares the tongue with one of these small, devastating flames. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire (vs.5b)!Although I think most of us have a very clear picture of the terrible devastation a small blaze can bring, I do not believe we have as clear a picture of the magnitude of the devastation the tongue can bring, as is evidenced by the fact that most of us are much more careful and prophylactic in the way we handle fire, even a small flame, than we are in the way we handle our words—what we say. For example, none of us would think of abandoning a burning campfire or throwing a lighted cigarette onto the dry roadside grass; however, most of us think nothing about abandoning all reason and speaking a “burning” word about another or judging another guilty and condemned.
The fact is if we really believe that the tongue is a fire, a fire that is set on fire by hell, a fire that defiles the entire body, a fire that sets on fire the course of our lives, a fire that leaves much more devastation than any forest fire could ever leave, then, surely, we would at the very least be as careful with our words as we are with fire. I am fully convinced of this: If any one of us were given the opportunity to see the devastation the fires of our own tongues have left in their path, we would be astonished and horrified, even more than we would be at seeing the devastation of all the forest fires that have ever burned.