James 3:11-12 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? (12) Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Over the past ten verses James has been describing the condition and effects of the tongue. Though it is a small member of the body, it has great power, causes much trouble, and can not be tamed. With the tongue we praise the Lord and curse our neighbor. Left without restraint, our tongue can cause great fires in our life that are not easily extinguished.

The last images in these verses are the contrast between fresh and salt water and the fruit of the fig tree and the grape-vine. These images are to tell us that just as nature has its consistency in how it works, so should our tongue. The ocean produces salt water and will never give you a cup of fresh water. And when you want to eat a grape, you take it from a vine, not a fig tree… Month after month, year after year, you can expect the same thing from the nature God created for us. Just as we expect consistent good from the things of nature we too should produce consistent good from our tongue.

There is a lot to learn about the tongue. But if there is only one take away from these verses in James it should be this, “Do I use my tongue in such a way that will be a benefit to others and glorifying to the Lord?” If the answer is yes then congratulations, you are part of an elite group of one! Christ alone lived a perfect life and due to the sin that is in us we are not capable of it. We wrestle with our tongue, have slips of the tongue, get tongue-tied, and often need to keep a civil tongue. Without the help and power of the Holy Spirit we are not able to control what comes out of our mouth.

James shares this not because he wants to point out the obvious, rather, he has a higher reason in mind. If we jump to verse 18 he says this, “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” James intent in discussing how we communicate with our family, our spouse, and our friends is so that we become peacemakers. When we sow seeds of peace the harvest we reap in return will be peace. Sow weeds and you will receive weeds, sow seeds of anger and hostility and you will reap the same. When it comes to our speech we need to be a sower of seeds of peace producing righteousness, therefore, not to dishonor the name of Jesus Christ.

The tongue can be a terrible thing if left unchecked, but if we, as believers in Jesus walk in His power, it can produce fruit that others desire to savor.

Prayer

Lord, help me today to walk in your Holy Spirit power that others may see my good works, hear my good words, and glorify the Father in heaven. Amen