Day 15: Useless Religion

 If you think you are being religious,
but can’t control your tongue,
you are fooling yourself, and your religion is useless.
(James 1:26, CEV)

Reflection

What ability or skill sets you and I apart from all the other creatures in God’s magnificent creation? Is it our speed, our strength, our dexterity, or problem-solving skills? No, there are other creatures that have these skills in abundance. The skill that is uniquely human is our ability to use language. We rule creation with our tongue, and because of our tongue.

We are created in the image of God. (See Genesis 1:27. But what makes us like God? It’s our creative ability to speak—to use language just as God does. God spoke and the world as we know it came into being. 

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11:3)

Furthermore, we know that Jesus is the Word incarnate. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind (John 1:3-4).

All this has profound implications for how we should live our lives as children of God. If there is creative power in the spoken Word of God, then as God’s children—His image bearers—there is power in our words as well. Our words have both creative power and destructive power. This is why James penned this statement:  

If you think you are being religious, but can’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is useless. (James 1:26, CEV)

What is James telling us with these words? He is making it crystal clear that words are at the heart of our religion, and by the term religion, he means our entire belief system.

And where did James get this understand about the importance of our words? He got it directly from Jesus, his half-brother, the Word incarnate, who said, “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).

Your eternal destiny will be determined by your words. (See Romans 10:9-10.)

Response

Father God, help me to grasp the importance of the words that I speak. Guide my thoughts because “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21). Give me the wisdom to control my words according to your will. Amen.

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