TAME YOUR TONGUE

There was a song we always used to sing in Sunday school (those of us teaching Sunday school still do), “be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little eyes what you see, for the father up above, is looking down in love, oh be careful little eyes what you see”. Then we would sing to the ears, to the lips, to the hands…..

My emphasis today is on the tongue, lips, the constituents of the mouth. At times we use this feature of our body to break others, to kill their spirits and to make them feel worthless. We ought to be careful with what we say, not only about ourselves, but also to others.

The other day we were waiting for the bus that picks us up near one of the petrol station. Apparently, the petrol station got a new management team and the first thing they did is tell us (my fellow workmates and I) not to wait for the bus while seating on their seats. The others were furious and started saying all sort of things, I was tempted to also give the manager a piece of my mind, but I knowing that this would choma picha yetu, I just had to do the best; walk away and go far, far from where the others were, praying to God to give me strength to tame my tongue. Paul said:

“⁵Even so the tongue is a small part of the body, but it takes credit for great things. How much wood may be lighted by a very little fire! ⁶The tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell...⁸But the tongue may not be controlled by man; it is an unresting evil, it is full of the poison of death.”(James 3:5-8)

Another day I sat in for vocal practice at a local church, one lady was apparently singing quite louder than the others, and the voice coach decides to shout to her, “you are too loud” and the rest of the group bursts with laughter! I felt sorry for her. The coach would have used his wisdom to let her lower her voice. The lady no longer comes for practice these days.

I could give so many other examples where we, me included, have killed people’s dreams and spirits with our words. You feel the urge to say something nasty to someone and you just say it, then when things go wrong you start saying how you did not mean what you said, you were joking. And you lose friends that way.

Such incidences are unavoidable, like when someone has told you a secret or something confidential and you just feel the urge to tell it to someone else, when you feel like telling someone how poor they are at something, e.t.c, we can avoid such.

It requires grace though, the Grace of God, so when you feel like killing someone’s spirit, just imagine if you were in their shoes, and then ask God to help you tame your tongue.

 “He who keeps watch over his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.”(Proverbs 21:23)