Taming the tongue

Last night at youth group the topic was "the mouth," or more specifically - your tongue!  We read from James 3:3-10:
³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, 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.⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body,sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 

This was a great lesson that all of us need to learn and work on.  We talked about the 4 dangers of the uncontrolled tongue - Gossip, Anger, Swearing and Lying.  But we also talked about the things we can do to keep our tongues under control:

-Commit to using your tongue for good
-Ask God for help
-Consider the consequences
-Have others hold you accountable

It was a great lesson - and as you can see from the pictures of Matt and Grace, we had some fun too!

-PT