The Epistle Of James And The Tongue/Words/Faith

Since December of last year I have been preaching through The Epistle of James. I'm now at James 3.5-12 and James is dealing with assessing the genuineness of our faith by the words that proceed from our tongues.

In my study I've come up with a little bit of trivia with regards to 'words' that we use.

One study online says that men use about 6,000 words a day and women use about 9,000 words a day. A different study online estimates that a total of 70-100 billion people have lived on the earth over the last 6,000 years.

Taking averages, let's say that each person uses about 7,000 words a day times 80 billion people since creation. Simply stated, you have a tremendous amount of words that have been spoken.

"Scientists maintain that once a sound wave is set in motion, it continues on a never-ending journey, and that, if we had sophisticated enough instruments, each wave could be captured and reproduced at any time. If that is true, every word spoken by any person who has ever lived could be retrieved!" (MacArthur, commentary on James p. 144)

Can you imagine how many sound waves of words are circling around us right now? Can you imagine how many words we could hear...even from the beginning of time? Who could possibly keep up with all of the words spoken?

Now consider Jesus' words, "And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." ~ Matthew 12.36-37

Our tongue/our words give an accurate assessment to the genuineness of our faith, whether it is living or dead. Our words come from "the overflow of the heart" (Matthew 12.34). We say what our hearts tell us to say. We respond with words that our hearts tell us to use. Our words will justify or prove that our faith is real and living. Or our words will condemn us b/c they prove that our faith is fake and dead.

God judges the heart. And God is keeping record of every word that proceeds out of our mouths. May God find our hearts to be tethered to the grace and mercy found only in Jesus Christ. And may our words always reflect where our hearts are...in Christ!