We’ve been stunned by the photos: firefighters, surrounded by flames and smoke, digging the earth or felling trees to protect structures from conflagration. We have felt the acrid sting in our own eyes, but nothing like they have. We wince thinking of those evacuated, and those whose homes were lost.
All of us are grateful for the firefighters’ heroism and sacrifice, but none more so than those whose homes were saved.
In Northern Nevada we are familiar with the dangers of wildfire, especially with conditions tinder dry as they are now. All of us are impacted, but as the air clears we will move on. Those whose homes were destroyed will never forget this time.
The Bible describes another source of ignition and destruction in our lives, one we all use regularly — our tongue. We realize that our words can heal or hurt others, but we may underestimate the tongue’s destructive power.
The apostle James, Jesus’ half brother, put it this way: “But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.” (James 3:5b-6 NLT)
James uses strong language to remind us how selfish and hurtful our untamed tongue can be. Truth be told, we’ve all set spot fires with our words: it’s relatively easy to do. King David described the kindling process: “The more I thought about it [the matter that upset him], the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words” (Psalm 39:3).
Selfish, angry, uncontrolled words can do lasting damage. We will be saddened when we drive past formerly pristine forest now reduced to ash: some people carry the burned-over scars from hurtful words inside them for decades.
The apostle James states the hypothetical solution, “For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.” (James 3:2) The problem is… we can’t control our tongues. The path from enflamed emotion to fiery words is too short and volatile.
We need God’s help in this and so many other areas of our lives: only he can tamp out the flames and prevent us from venting whenever we are provoked. May this be a reminder that we were made for a relationship with the living God through faith in Jesus Christ.
We can depend on Jesus for the ability to speak healing rather than hurtful words. We can pay less attention to the latest famous personality committing verbal arson on social media (the technology is morally neutral; it’s the use to which it is put that’s the problem).
We can determine to help those who have been devastated by the words of others, and repair the damage done by our own tongues. These are fires close to home that also need to be extinguished.
Don Baumann is outreach pastor at Hilltop Community Church in Carson City.
