“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8, NKJV). In his epistle, James is talking about the tongue of a believer. He is issuing a call to the church to gain control of their tongues before they are destroyed by them. You may ask, “How serious is this matter? Can an ‘unruly tongue’ really be that sinful?”
A loose tongue renders our religion worthless! It can make your spiritual activity useless in God’s eyes. “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless” (James 1:26).
The reference here to those “among you” means people in the church, not drug addicts or street people but those members of the body of Christ who appear pious and spiritual. They are active in the work of the Lord, but their tongues are out of control. James is zeroing in on those who seem to be holy, gentle and nice yet who move about the church, their job or family with acid tongues, telling tidbits of gossip or listening to it with a willing ear. They murmur and complain, and God says their religion is in vain.
Beloved, I do not want to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and hear him say, “David, you did mighty works in my name. Yes, you preached to countless thousands and won many to the kingdom. However, it was all for nothing! Many uplifting words came out of your mouth, but there were also bitter, envious words. You took my warnings on this matter of the tongue too lightly.”
You may speculate, “Surely God isn’t so unloving that he would discount my spirituality because I said something uncharitable.” I am speaking here of Christians who speak against God’s people without blinking an eye. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).