Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam: so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.  Proverbs 17: 14

We have beauty parlors that give treatments for skin and hair, but unfortunately, there are no salons for the part of the body we use most often…the tongue!  The Bible says, “The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts” (James 3: 5).  The tongue can do many things.  It can start a quarrel and break open a dam of poison.  It can remain silent and drop a matter before a dispute breaks out.  It can make a marriage a paradise or a place of hell.  It can kill a church.  It can build up another person.  It can point the way to heaven.

Isaiah describes Jesus when he says, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53: 7).  He didn’t open His mouth in His defense for one reason…to win forgiveness for us.  To payfor our many sins, including the sin of opening our mouths at times when we shouldn’t or of starting quarrels by not dropping a certain matter before a dispute breaks out.  He suffered and died for us to make us beautiful…to make us righteous!  He did it to help bring our tongues under control.  Through His life, death, and resurrection He made even our tongues beautiful.

Lord God, James reminds us: All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue.  It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3: 7-8),  So tame our tongues through the power of Your Holy Spirit.  Amen.