James 3

Taming the Tongue

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.

During that recent encounter the book of James was mentioned. I confessed that my whole attitude towards James has changed over the years. I found his words to be very legalistic when I was going through a rebellious time in my walk with Christ.

My attitude changed as I matured and it is important to recognize that we all go through this as we grow in Christ. Here once again as I search the scripture coming from a different place in my walk, with a change of attitude I can see things now that I have overlooked in the past.

I allowed my attitude about James to blind me to what James was going through at the time of his writing. I totally missed that James called himself a teacher. Not only did I miss that but failed to understand the strictness incurred by him because he felt the weight of responsibility in that calling to teach others.

James expressed himself in ways that reflected that weight of responsibility which I misinterpreted as being legalistic. I was wrong because I judged James without knowing him.

Now as I read James I have to reassess my thoughts given this new understanding of the author. This is my way of thinking. Do others go through similar problems when reading the word of God?

What has happened in my past influenced my attitude and it took a long time to understand the depth of those influences.

Psalm 12:6

The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

As we return to His word with new found attitudes it takes on a deeper meaning and we discover why it is so important to revisit scriptures we haven’t visited for years.

The scriptures haven’t changed, we have.

John 14:9

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Do we see Christ in each other? Or do we only know each other by our flesh?

My apologies for those leading questions. Recent events caused me to think in these terms.

During the holiday I had the occasion to visit my home church in San Marcos. As I entered into the topical study class I found myself in the midst of several new faces. There were those I knew from the past and our relationships remained the same. It was these new members that I discovered that getting to know them took me to a place of trying to see Christ in people I did not know.

There were three men in the group and in each I recognized a reflection of myself at different times in my own experience. It took me back to different walks of faith as I grew in Christ. For two of these men I found a comfortable safe place and reassurance in the path they were on with Christ.

Then there was the third. My thoughts went to a time in my life where knowledge was more important than relationships and it became difficult to see Christ in Him because I could only focus on who I was back then. That was a kind of knowing others in the flesh, seeing ourselves in them.

I spoke to the elder after the class about him and I found that he was in the man’s life and had a deeper insight into what was going on with him. The elder wasn’t blinded by a vision of self-reflection. He could help that man in the same way he helped me years ago to focus on what is important in our walk with Christ.

It became apparent to me that the last thing I should do was to talk to this third man and say, “I was once like you.” That would be received as judgment and cause a wall between the two of us. Thanks be to God that I kept my thoughts to myself.

James 3

Taming the Tongue

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.