Bridling The Tongue

 "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

This post is credited to Dr. David Gibbs, Jr, president and founder of Christian Law Associates.  

It has been so easy to hear someone say something I did not agree with and immediately feel rage as I make my attempt to prove them wrong.  The things I've heard lately, with one political side bashing the other (and I'm the other), really made me want to sit down and type my heart out on Facebook.  I had felt anger at what was said.  My chest started to tighten and feel like it was going to explode.  With everything else I had been dealing with over the last few months, this was no help to me.  

Gratefully, my husband motivated me to attend church yesterday, something we had been slacking at lately.  During the service there was a guest speaker by the name of Dr. David Gibbs, a lawyer who has helped defend several Christian churches across the country.  He started by reciting James 1:26 and continued on talking about the importance of "bridling our tongue."  

To bridle your tongue means to restrain or control your tongue by choosing what you will speak and what you will not speak.  When you have a bridle on a horse, you can control the direction of the animal despite it's enormous strength with the simple pull of the reins.  A horse can only go the direction it's head goes; therefore, if you can control the direction of the head, you can control the body.  In the same way, when we bridle our tongue by learning to control what we speak/don't speak, we can control the direction in which our life will go.  

When it comes to bridling our tongue it's so much easier said than done, especially now living in a world of social media where it's so easy to share our feelings or read the views of others.  It's so easy to feel anger and disappointment by the things we hear on the news.  Holiday dinners in my family are never easy because someone is always bringing up politics.  As tempting as it is to get caught up in it all, God wants us to bridle our tongue and prevent ourselves from saying anything that will be unpleasing to Him.  

Have you ever heard the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."  We used to recite it all the time as kids when bullies said mean things.  The truth is, those words do hurt.  The tongue is the most evil part of our body.  It can be used to say things that will bring pain or heartache to someone.  It can also be used to spread kindness, encouragement, compliments, and compassion.  

I'm choosing to use my tongue in a way that uplifts others.  So far, it's been bringing me great joy in doing so and hopefully I can use my tongue in a way that will bring joy to others.