Listen up, little ones
Listen for the word tongue.
Reading
James 3:1-18—The Mighty Tongue
Keys for kids
- Sticks and stones can hurt your bones.
- Name calling can hurt even worse.
- God wants us to control our tongue.
Questions
- How have you used your tongue for harm?
- Why are we to control our tongue?
- How are we able to control our tongue?
Notes
(See last page for authors. Today’s notes are from a commentary on James by Gordon Keddie)
Words, more than anything else in human experience—and more quickly—form impressions that stick. More significant, however, is the damage that can be done by unhallowed and ill-considered words that flow from a spirit of criticism. It is this that James wants us to grasp so that we may bring this most powerful faculty—our tongue—under submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 3:2, James unveiled a proposition and an implication. The former was that the tongue is an exceedingly powerful faculty; the latter, that it may be powerful for good or for evil. These notions are now investigated and illustrated in verses 3–12 in such a way as to leave us in no doubt as to the Lord’s will for the way we use the tongue. The tongue is to be tamed and be subject to the rule of Christ. Four principal points are made to drive this home to our consciences: we must see, firstly, how the tongue has power to control our lives (3:3–5); secondly, we must see the potential destructive power of the tongue (3:5–6); thirdly, the incapacity of man to control the tongue (3:7–10); and fourthly, that these things ought not to be—godliness should characterize all our speech (3:10–12).
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 120a, 34a
Prayer
- Ask God to help you use your tongue for good, not evil.
- Pray for the reading and preaching of God’s word tomorrow.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.