If any man
among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his
own heart, this man's religion is vain. – James 1.26
There are a couple of things
here that James describes as proof of a man’s religion as being useless and in
vain.
The first is here where he
writes that if a person seems to be religious but can’t control his tongue he
is tricking his own heart.
The tongue is so hard to
control. James will pick up on this theme a little later, but he throws it in
here while he is talking about how his readers show their faith.
If a person seems religious,
but he can’t control his mouth he deceives himself and his religion is empty.
Why is that so true? It’s
true because our words reveal our true hearts. What comes out of my mouth is
the best reflection of who I truly am. Words do matter, a lot. If I go around
full of pride and malice and anger and backbiting and filth it only reveals the
man I really am.
So the only way to bridle the
tongue if to get the right heart. Only God’s word working in His Spirit can do
that as I yield to Him.
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