Bridling My Toungue
James 1:26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
Tongue story time:
I’m a little late this morning because I had to patch things up with my lovely bride of over 45 years. We’re strong on the big picture concepts but believe me, we both have had to do lots of forgiving along the way.
I know y’all never have to deal with this but here’s the story anyway. 😉
The warning signs: My heart jumped for joy when we were preparing for a whole family to be baptized. Taking the excitement to even a higher level, my cohort and completer came in, shepherding a throng of God’s children from her Sunday school class. She has a deep calling and commitment to these youngsters, weathering constant trials for the occasional joys of seeing their little lights coming on. If I were the enemy, scenes like this would drive me to attack as quickly as possible.
The script: Later, as we left the parking lot, we started discussing items and processes related to other ministries we’re involved with. She explained what she intended to do. I, being wise and experienced, shared a suggestion or two. She, being also wise and experienced, dismissed the ideas. I, being an idiot, decided that she was being defensive. How dare she think I would criticize her on a personal level.
Of course, I made a point of driving that point home which, of course, led to the next level of escalation. We’re both passionate about what we do so the temperature can get pretty high.
This is a script we follow often. I finally realized ( after 4.5 decades) that I could break the script by bridling my tongue. Up until now, I hadn’t considered that “my ground” was not worth defending! I’ve no doubt there will be a new attack plan but I’m taking this one off the table.
Father, give us wisdom to see when our tongue is undercutting our love!