Look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!We all make mistakes, "James" wrote. In speaking, in writing, in communicating we all make mistakes. Not many of you should be teachers, because teachers will be judged with a greater strictness, and we all make many mistakes in speaking. People who don't make mistakes in speaking, they must be perfect! Because if you can control your urge to speak (when you don't know what you are talking about, but you don't realize that you don't know what you are talking about), well, then you must be perfect.
James 3:4-5
The hardest thing about being a preacher: You have to speak. At least once a week, for 10 minutes or so, you have to have something to say, even if you know you don't know what you are talking about. The greatest temptation is to use the sermon to show people how clever is their pastor. That is always a mistake, for, when I try to be clever I am most likely to reveal myself as a fool, and not a "fool for Christ" either, just a damned fool.
As a child, for a long time I refused to speak. That was probably a good instinct. I was the youngest in the home and in the neighborhood, and I learned that when I spoke, people laughed. It offended me. So I kept my words to myself.
Perhaps we should all be so careful.
There are a lot of people who really ought to measure their words more carefully, mete them out as if they were nearing the end of their lifetime supply. Most of these people work for a certain television network.
Let there be more peace on earth, and let it begin with me. Amen.
