Taming the Tongue
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
During that recent encounter the book of James was mentioned. I confessed that my whole attitude towards James has changed over the years. I found his words to be very legalistic when I was going through a rebellious time in my walk with Christ.
My attitude changed as I matured and it is important to recognize that we all go through this as we grow in Christ. Here once again as I search the scripture coming from a different place in my walk, with a change of attitude I can see things now that I have overlooked in the past.
I allowed my attitude about James to blind me to what James was going through at the time of his writing. I totally missed that James called himself a teacher. Not only did I miss that but failed to understand the strictness incurred by him because he felt the weight of responsibility in that calling to teach others.
James expressed himself in ways that reflected that weight of responsibility which I misinterpreted as being legalistic. I was wrong because I judged James without knowing him.
Now as I read James I have to reassess my thoughts given this new understanding of the author. This is my way of thinking. Do others go through similar problems when reading the word of God?
What has happened in my past influenced my attitude and it took a long time to understand the depth of those influences.
The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
As we return to His word with new found attitudes it takes on a deeper meaning and we discover why it is so important to revisit scriptures we haven’t visited for years.
The scriptures haven’t changed, we have.