Why Every Christian’s Religion Is Sometimes Worthless
James 1:26 says: If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives in his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
If I were to ask you to name five things you have to believe in order to be considered a Christian, what would you say? Jesus is God; we believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we have to follow The Ten Commandments; the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God; worship is necessary; something else?
A lot of Christians can come up with their top five things that they believe are necessities when it comes to the Christian faith. Some have a lot more. Some say that the only thing necessary is belief that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
It seems that if you ask James what are high points of the faith, he would point to some of the key elements of his letter to the church: faith and good works, prayer, not discriminating, being wary of how your wealth affects you, and managing your tongue.
We believe that as James was writing his letter, he assumes that the reader has a basic understanding of the Gospel. His letter is meant for those who are already Christians. It is a letter for how we govern our lives in the message and according to the message of Jesus Christ. That is why much of his letter addresses how we live with one another as Christians and how we present ourselves to a world that wants to be radically different than how Jesus calls us to live.
So James says: if you believe in Jesus and are a part of His Resurrection grace, if you are expecting Heaven as your reward, this means that you will watch your tongue. It’s just that simple. Words hurt. Words destroy. Words can kill any positive momentum we’ve made in showing the Gospel with our lives. People remember words.
The tongue is the greatest agent of deception. It releases our intent to satisfy ourselves at someone else’s expense. James says that a Christian who lets their tongue continue to display a pleasure-seeking hedonist, that person has lost sight of how the Gospel is supposed to change us. We lose sight of worthiness, and Who is the Worthy One.
People remember when we’ve destroyed them for our own purposes, whether intentional or as a emotion-induced response to our weaknesses. Either way, these things must remind us that our tongues are meant for the praise of God and the edification of those around us. Learning to use our tongues in these ways is a process of calling on the power of God’s words of forgiveness when we find our tongue has done it again. As God heals us of our abusing words, we remember the hurt they’ve caused, and then seek to stretch the time between our casual mouthpiece mistakes.
Whenever you might read this, take up the challenge to spend three days being conscientious about what you say. Give your brain time to figure out how to say it positively, even if it takes some uncomfortable silence to make it happen. Better that moment of silence than to be immortalized as the scourge of humanity to someone because of a careless outburst.
It can be done. Let it be done. Amen.
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