Small Sparks

“We all stumble in many ways.  If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check….the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.  Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark (emphasis mine).  The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.  It corrupts the whole person, sets that whole course of his life on fire, and it itself set on fire by hell.”    James 3:2,5-6

I will never forget the day that I learned the lesson of the “small spark”…..it was a steamy summer day in the small town of Catasauqua, PA and my youngest brother Robert and I were very bored.  So we did what any boys ages 15 and 12 would do…we started a fire.  It was all innocent enough at first…. a few leaves piled up, a magnifying glass and, next thing you know, we had fire!  Problem was that it was also a day with a bit of a breeze.  So the next thing you know we had two fires burning, as leaves were blowing off our original pile onto neighboring piles of dry leaves.  Then there were three fires, four fires…..you get the picture.   Our response was to frantically attempt to stomp out the fires that we hadn’t meant to start in the first place.  This seemed to only result in making matters worse, not to mention that it was melting the soles of our inexpensive sneakers!  It was about this time that a visitor showed up to our fiasco….the fire chief.  You see, the woods in which we decided to entertain ourselves with fire happened to be located right behind the local fire station.  Little did we know that the chief would be visiting that day.  So I ran, leaving my brother behind, and Robert got to be chauffeured home by the fire chief.  Just another summer day in the Hausman household (unfortunately for my mom and dad)!  James tells us in the passage above that the tongue is like a “small spark”….let me share with you a few valuable lessons I’ve learned (pretty much all the hard way!) about this:

            - we may never know the far-reaching effects of the words we speak; they are                              like ripples in a pond going far beyond the “point of impact”

            - once spoken, words cannot be retrieved; they are like a thrown stone

            - there is a God who hears every word we speak and who will hold us                                            accountable for them  (Matt. 12:36,37)

            - our words have incredible power; they can be life-giving or life-taking                                          (Prov. 12:18 ; 18:21)

            - fewer words are a sign of wisdom and maturity  (Prov. 10:19)

So how are we to respond to such truth?  The wrong response is to take the words of James in verse 8 of chapter 3 – “…no man can tame the tongue…” and use them as an excuse for undisciplined speech.  The correct response would be to submit every word we want to speak to the approval of the Holy Spirit.  This is going to require two things that most of us find extremely difficult (but hey, who ever said being Christlike was easy?!):

            - slowing down our response time when talking; taking time for a “holy pause”                             in which you allow the Spirit of God to either give you the green light or                                  put the brakes on

            - swallowing hard when necessary; if the Holy Spirit says “no” to what I think                                needs to be said, I need to be willing to submit to His wisdom and                                        authority and “eat my words”

So, there’s the challenge for you and me…..living each day with a Spirit-controlled tongue.  On our own we can’t stop the destruction caused by the “small spark” inside our mouth.  But with the help of the Holy Spirit our tongue can be an instrument of life and healing.  Oh, and one more thing, keep an eye on your kids if they walk out of the house with a bored look on their face and a magnifying glass in their hands!

Clark Hausman

Clark is the pastor of Moyock Assembly of God.