Apostle James captures the extent to which the tongue can go in destroying a person’s destiny, in Proverbs 15:1:
"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell."
James 3:6

The tongue indeed is a fire, thus it must be controlled. Controlled fire can be used productively; however, uncontrolled fire destroys. The tongue is so complex that it could be likened to a fountain that produces cold and hot water at the same time. What can we now do to this thing that the Bible describes as ..an unruly evil, full of deadly poison? (James 3:. Since the Bible describes the tongue as poison the good news is that Jesus promised us that even if we drink a deadly thing, it shall by no means hurt us (Mark 16:18). Therefore, one can see that every problem of man ends at the cross of Jesus Christ.

The story was told of a woman who was having problems in her marriage. She consulted a wise old man in her family who gave her a small, smooth stone to slip into her mouth and lick, remaining silent, every time her husband picked a quarrel with her. She did this and before long, peace was restored to that home. She ran to the wise old man to show her gratitude for the effectiveness of the charm only to have him tell her that what he had given her was an ordinary stone. He had merely found a way to make her keep quiet rather than destroy her home with her mouth.

The Bible says:
“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”
Proverbs 16:24

Choose to speak only words that edify and if you must correct someone, do it constructively and in love.

All children of God must learn to control their tongues. As there is a time to talk, there is also a time to keep silent (Ecclesiastes 3:7)

When we talk, our words must be fitly spoken (Proverbs 25:11) in due season (Proverbs 15:23).
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.