Freedom to Speak

"...the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.  Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark...with the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness."  -James 3:5, 9

Every year we have many branches that fall from the trees on our property that need to be disposed of.  For more than 30 years we got a burn permit every Spring from the county so that we could burn the branches in a cinderblock firepit.  Then one year we got a letter in the mail saying we could no longer have an open fire larger than a camp fire, such as above, because they determined via satellite that there was no place on our 2.5 acre property that was the required distance from another house.  

In James 3 the imagery of a fire is used to illustrate how the tongue can be like a small fire that quickly gets out of hand and sets a whole forest on fire.  In His sermon on the Mount Jesus said, "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man speaks what the heart is full of." (Luke 6:45)  Lately, the political discourse reminds me of these verses, only now social media requires that the admonition be extended to the written word, not just the spoken word.  It's one thing to disagree with and debate the policies and actions of a person and it's another thing to impugn their character through name calling or by making fun of their appearance.  There is much that needs to be challenged, but every Christian that speaks up should remember that Christ's cause can be helped or hindered by how they make their concerns known.  We must never forget Who we're representing when we speak and write and interact with others.

I am grateful that I live in a country where I have the freedom to speak the love of Christ at all times.