I’m sure you’ve read the verses in the book of James that talk about the tongue. It is a “restless evil”, says James. He compares the tongue to many things. A tiny ‘spark’ that sets a forest on fire. A small ‘rudder’ that steers a whole ship. A ‘bridal’ in a horses mouth that can be used to guide it around.

James argues that the tongue, although it is small, is the source a great deal of trouble for man.

Every teaching I’ve ever heard on this verse gives a good deal of personal application. Congregations are to control their tongue and this is an excellent argument for that.

But I’m not sure that the congregation is really who James had in mind when he wrote this bit about the tongue.

Possibly for the first time, I noticed that another frequently quoted verse is actually a tiny piece of context that puts a whole new spin on James’ message about the tongue. The very first verses in fact. James 3:1-2:

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.

Why does James go directly from a word on teaching and teachers and the fact that every teacher make’s mistakes in his teaching into a discussion of bridling the tongue? I think it’s because the ‘body’ he talks about throughout the rest of the chapter is not one individual body who is guided by his own tongue, but the whole body of believers who is guided by the tongue of their teacher.

Not many should aspire to be teachers because all teachers make mistakes, and with many, many teachers comes many misconceptions and the church ends up ‘set on fire’.

Of course, I don’t think this is the only viable interpretation of this verse, but I think it makes perfect contextual sense. And perhaps it’s a concept churches who turn teaching authority over to small group ministries should consider.

Reading in Ecclesiastes earlier, I came across a few points that I found perplexing. After thinking and reflecting, I dove into some commentaries for some insight.

On the verses of Ecclesiastes 3:11-15, Matthew Henry had this to say:

Every thing is as God made it; not as it appears to us. We have the world so much in our hearts, are so taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things, that we have neither time nor spirit to see God’s hand in them. The world has not only gained possession of the heart, but has formed thoughts against the beauty of God’s works. We mistake if we think we were born for ourselves; no, it is our business to do good in this life, which is short and uncertain; we have but little time to be doing good, therefore we should redeem time. Satisfaction with Divine Providence, is having faith that all things work together for good to them that love him.

That’s a lot to think about.

Jeremiah 6:14:

They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.

The prophets in Jeremiah’s time had stopped preaching the word of God. Instead, they said the things that would bolster their esteem. They tickled the people’s ears with things they wanted to hear. “They healed the would lightly”.

Now, I know that Jeremiah’s time was a specific time in history and that we have to tread lightly over life applications from these pages. But I couldn’t help but see the parallel as I read across this verse.

The teachers, the prophets in our western church, many of them, have stopped preaching the Word of God. Or begun preaching it only in part—leaving the difficult or offensive topics and concepts untouched. Not just the prosperity-gospel church either. I mean many of the churches we attend on a weekly basis.

In the interest of creating a welcoming environment (and securing a mortgage payment), way too many preachers only teach the parts of the bible that can be understood without too much objection. And, without too much risk of scaring people away.

I can’t help but wonder whether or not God would say these same things to our church today that he said through the prophet Jeremiah in his day.

I usually don’t like it when God teaches me a lesson. I think I’m one of those people who doesn’t usually get it the ‘easy way’. Or at least that’s not been the trend in my walk with the Lord. I don’t know, maybe it’s my personality or maybe when I’m on my death bed looking back at my life I’ll see it as one big grand lesson truly proving my point.

Regardless, reading in Proverbs yesterday, I came across this verse which shed some light on my tendency.

Proverbs 29:19:

“By mere words a servant is not disciplined,
   for though he understands, he will not respond.”

When the Lord is leading me through something especially difficult, at some point I usually think to myself, “why can’t he just say it? why’s it have to be this big complicated scheme.

Well, I suppose he has. And I don’t usually listen. Hence the verse in Proverbs. Good thing someone’s looking out for us!

Growing up Catholic, I’m familiar with the mindset that believes Christians can and do ‘fall out of grace’, so to speak. That if we’ve done something bad enough, we’re in danger of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf being ineffective. And so there is a need to do some spiritual patch work and yet again seek God’s forgiveness through Christ.

Even in parts of the protestant church where that’s really not the teaching, the mindset still definitely exists (at least on some subtle level).

After all, teaching on post-conversion repentance isn’t really on the top of most church’s list—although teaching vaguely about ‘repentance’ is. So it would seem to me that what we end up with is a whole slew of Christians under the impression that if they’ve screwed up hard enough they’re on the outs. That is until they make things right with some magic prayer of repentance. Although no one can be quite sure what that is so everyone just wings it and hopes they’re getting it right.

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating the issue a bit. But for the sake of a point, it’s alright I suppose.

Hebrews 10:11-14 sets things straight:

“every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

Christians need to understand that the regeneration, justification, and propitiation brought about by Christ’s death on the cross and delivered through the conduit of our faith, are irrevocable.

Notice the change of tenses in verse 14. Yes, Christians are being sanctified, but we’ve already been perfected (in a way).

Following Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, he didn’t go to some library style grace-renewal booth to divvy out renewals to the grace on sinner’s lives. He sat down at the right hand of God because what he’s done is done.

Continual repentance is crucial in a Christians life. But not because if he doesn’t do it, he’s losing his salvation, but because if repentance never comes, he probably never had salvation to begin with. It’s simply something Christians do. It’s who we are. We love God and when it comes to us that we have wronged and offended him, repentance just happens. Like juice coming from an orange when it’s squeezed—If no juice comes out, it’s probably not an orange.

So keep on repenting? Yeah, of course. We just need to do it remembering that Jesus’ work is done and the Father isn’t angry anymore.

Since I became a Christian, one verse has always stuck out to me as strange and even somewhat comical. The verse in mind is Proverbs 26:13:

The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
  There is a lion in the streets!”

Like much of Proverbs, this is just one in a long line of punchy, biblical one-liners of wisdom. So the context doesn’t do much to explain this verses meaning. So, when you read all on its own, it sounds, well, a little nuts.

But, recently I’ve come to find this has quite a lot of meaning to me.

I often make excuses not to do the difficult things I want to do, or should do, or need to do. Instead, inaction is vindicated by pointing out all the dangers along the path ahead of me. Of course, the actions are not truly vindicated—I’m left as a ‘sluggard’ for my inaction.

I think it’s interesting that this verse doesn’t make any commands. It only points out that making excuses makes us something we don’t want to be. And what’s worse, really?

Hebrews 8:11-12:

they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
   and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
   from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    and I will remember their sins no more."

A wave of optimistic anticipation swept over me as I read this the other day. Even though I’ve read it many times before, it is wonderful when our exterior weakens enough for old truths to take new effect.

It’s very encouraging to keep those promises close.