The tongue and the tree

Ashy gray sadness pervades in areas scorched by wildfire. This hill, with so many evergreens stripped to black splinters, was part of last year’s “Carlton Complex” fires that took the lives of three fire fighters, left another severely burned, and churned through a quarter of a million acres.  The acreage amounted to three-fourths of all fire loss in my state that summer.

Fire is so ruthless, so devastating, so unpredictable. I thought of James 3:5-6

Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.  The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.  It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and it itself set on fire by hell.

Powerful words! But how many of us have experienced the fury of an angry person and the stabbing pain of their negative words?  How many of us have been guilty of doing that? 

One mark of spiritual maturity is the ability to control one’s words.  Paul urged:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31)

Even deeper, a mark of maturity is reacting to the fire of angry words with the cool spirit of someone controlled by “Living Water.” None of us will escape the fury of someone’s anger. But I am challenged and encouraged by the advice that James gave later in the same chapter.  The best “fire extinguisher” possible is the wisdom of God, seen in a heart that is:

....first of all pure; then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17)

The firefighter’s mascot, “Smokey the Bear,” famously said, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires.” Maybe we need to amend that to: “Only YOU, with the help of Christ, can fight angry tongue fires with His ‘living water’ of a peaceful, forgiving spirit.”