So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbours the truth, for we are all parts of the same body … Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
It is not just James who writes about the use of language, Paul too has some very practical instructions. But let’s not stick at the spoken word – I think that a present-day Paul would have included emails, text messages, postings on Twitter and Instagram and such like. It is impossible to calculate how much damage has been done in recent years by hasty and thoughtless entries on Facebook or by calculated slurs hiding behind (fake) news.
There is an old children’s song once used in Sunday School that goes:
O be careful little mouth what you say
O be careful little mouth what you say
There’s a Father up above
And He’s looking down in love
So, be careful little mouth what you say.
Today we might add a 21st Century verse to it that goes:
O be careful finger’n’thumb what you press,
O be careful finger’n’thumb what you press,
The Father reads it all
However you might call,
So be careful finger’n’thumb what you press.
Sure, you need to control your tongue, but also your finger’n’thumb!