The God Of Your StorySýnishorn

As we moved through the middle of James in our reading today, the profound implications of this letter continue to become more clear. James’s central argument has been that faith is indeed where the story with God begins; however, faith without corresponding action isn’t a faith that is alive. 

Faith isn’t something that can be compartmentalized into a segment of our lives that does not interfere with or touch any other part. Rather, our faith should inform everything. It should influence our thoughts, words, and deeds in a way that profoundly affects the way we move through the world—otherwise it’s not true faith. James drove the point home by telling us, “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works” (James 2:26).

Obviously, James’s tone is very direct. This was not an issue that he wanted to be misunderstood in any way. If we have faith, but it is not affecting our behavior and transforming the way we live, then, according to James, it’s dead.

For James, one of the ways we put our faith into action is in the way we steward what we say. He likened our tongues to a bit in a horse’s mouth, or the rudder of a ship—it’s a small part of our body, but it steers the trajectory of our entire lives. In fact, James was bold enough to tell us that we can burn our entire lives down around us with our tongues.

We all know the power of our words. It’s in harnessing that power and using it for good that we often find the challenge. But James’s point wasn’t only that there is mighty power in what we say. He wanted to address the duality with which we use that mighty power—for good and for evil:

Sometimes [the tongue] praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! (James 3:9-10)

Since our tongues have such power to bless and to curse, perhaps the first and fundamental step we must take in putting our faith into action is to harness and control what we say. We’ve all seen what can happen when we lose control and say things that we shouldn’t. We can be both angels of mercy and stone-cold killers with our tongues—all on the same day. As James told us, “This is not right!” But if we can control our tongues, the rest of us will follow, body and soul, and set us on a path that will put our faith into action in everything we do.