From the Pulpit: When faith talks, people listen

Last week we talked about faith that gets its hands dirty, the kind that moves your feet and opens your hands. But James isn’t done with us yet. This week, he turns his attention to something smaller than our hands. Something far more dangerous.

James 3:5 puts it bluntly: “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.”

A single match. An entire forest. That’’ the power of the words we say. And here’s where faith gets personal. It’s one thing to show up and serve your neighbor. It’s another thing entirely to speak to your neighbor, and about them, in a way that reflects what you actually believe about God. James is drawing a straight line between your faith and your words. Real faith, he argues, changes how you talk.

James 3:10 lands hard: “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”

He’s not describing someone on the outside looking in. He’s describing people sitting in church. People who lift their hands in worship on Sunday and tear someone apart with gossip on Monday. That’s a faith that’s talking out of both sides of its mouth. And if we’re honest, most of us know exactly what he means.

James isn’t calling us to be people who never say hard things. Jesus certainly wasn’t that. What James is calling for is wisdom, and he defines it clearly in James 3:17: “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

Faithful words are honest and kind. Direct and gentle. They build people up rather than quietly tearing them down.

Here’s a simple challenge: before you send that text or you join that conversation about a coworker or a family member, pause and ask: Does this reflect what I believe about the God I worship? Faith that gets its hands dirty also watches its mouth. James wouldn’t have it any other way.

Gene Whitehead is a Bible teacher, writer, and missionary. He serves at Living Springs Church and writes at simpletheology.org.