Disciplines of a Godly Young Man by R. Kent Hughes

Author:R. Kent Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2019-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

DESTRUCTIVE POWER

James’s biggest concern is the destructive power of the tongue: “How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (vv. 5–6).

The things that you say with your mouth have awesome potential for harm, as the fire image suggests. It was 9:00 p.m. one Sunday evening in October 1871, and poor Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over the lantern as she was being milked, starting the Great Chicago Fire. That disaster blackened 3 ½ miles of the city, destroying over 17,000 buildings. The fire lasted 2 days and cost over 250 lives. A firestorm from a spark—literally.

The tongue can incinerate human relationships; it can commit spiritual arson. A spark from an ill-spoken word can produce a firestorm that torches everyone it touches. You might have experienced this yourself. When someone says something unkind, or gossip flies around, it can kill feelings, friendships, and relationships forever.

The bigger problem though, the Bible teaches, is that the tongue stains “the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life” (James 3:6). Did you know that? Did you know that your words can affect the whole course of your existence? Words are serious.

James has grabbed our imaginations with pictures of the tongue’s incendiary power. Now he adds the final touch—that the tongue itself is “set on fire by hell.” Hell? James is really raising the stakes now! The meaning of the word hell that James uses refers to a place that was a continually burning garbage dump outside Jerusalem, a place of fire and filth where, as Jesus said, “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48 NIV).

Can anyone miss the point? The uncontrolled tongue has a direct pipeline to hell! Fueled by hell, it burns human lives with its filthy fires.

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