#15
James 3:1-12
¶ Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren,
knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.
For we all stumble in many ways.
If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.
Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.
Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.
So also, the tongue is a small part of the body,
and yet it boasts of great things.
See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!
And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity;
the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.
For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.
But no one can tame the tongue;
it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.
With it we bless our Lord and Father,
and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;
from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.
My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.
Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?
Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives,
or a vine produce figs?
Nor can salt water produce fresh.
{{ Someone who desires to be a teacher or leader in the church,
is not the one we should want to be a teacher or leader in the church.
For in so desiring the position they show they have alternative motives then to serve.
Did you know in this country it used to be that if someone openly desired to hold a position they were automatically disqualified?
Someone who can’t control their own actions defiantly can’t control their tongue.
The tongue is the most prominent teller of mankind;
of what ones true thought and how one lives when no one is around.
The ones whose desire is to be no top of the pile, is the one who brags about their life what they have accomplished, done, and spoke.
To find a proper teacher, paster, servant of God, ask those who have to put up with them every day,
one who in the eyes of the world is below.
For no matter what mankind may say about one’s self, it is the true actions of one that tells who or what they truly are.
For it is true:
A fountain cannot send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water,
Neither can a fig tree produce olives,
nor a vine produce figs.
Nor can salt water produce fresh water.
And a self-centered egotistical person can not serve others with a clean heart or motives.
This is why it is important that every time you notes a corrupt attitude within yourself you take it to te Lord, repemt and ask the Holy Spirit to help change your life, your motives, so that you may be more like Christ Jesus, perusing the righteousness of the Lord, rather than your self-righteousness. }}