The NIV 365 Day Devotional

Does Your Mouth Bring Praise or Cursing?

Small things are not always so small. Just as bits and rudders can dictate the direction of powerful horses and large ships, so our words can dictate the direction of our lives. In the digital age we face a unique challenge as various online platforms have weaponized words in new ways. Social media has become a modern Wild West of sorts. Our thoughts often become guns, and our fingers often become bullets. With alarming regularity, we take aim and fire, too easily forgetting that there are real human beings behind the digital veil.

In this passage, James says that when we hurl insults and derision with our words, we are lighting small sparks that may very well burn down the entire forest. But the forest isn’t the victim of our vitriol; the forest is us. An untamed tongue, one that speaks recklessly, “sets the whole course of one’s life on fire” (Jas 3:6). Our words teem with rebellious potential. The imagery of verses 7–8 alludes to the Genesis creation story (“all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures”), concluding with the fact that our words are “full of deadly poison,” an allusion to the rebellious serpent of Genesis 3. In the digital age, the allure of the serpent is strong, and temptation is literally at our fingertips. The words spoken—and typed—by Christians must be, at all times, clothed in humility, grace and discernment.

Taken from the NIV Upside-Down Kingdom Bible.