The title should instantly have you humming the tune of that awesome Christmas hymn. Unfortunately, this song takes on a new connotation. That question, at least in today’s culture, is most often referring to a piece of gossip that someone has to offer to their peers. I’ve seen this happen so much that I’m surprised no Christian comedian has redone the song with lyrics about this as a joke.
Now, I’m not writing to be “that guy” or anything, but you know, all too often we succumb to the sin of idle gossip. We hide what we truly feel under the Christian façade (as I heard in a sermon by Joe Giffin,) such as when we “speak the truth in love,” which often means we’re bashing someone until we throw in “We need to pray for so and so.”
James, in the third chapter of his book, discusses this matter, focusing in on how we need to control our tongues. He says “Now when we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide the whole animal. And consider ships: though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So too, though the tongue is a small part [of the body], it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among the parts of our [bodies]; it pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell.” (James 3:3-6)
There are three things we can see from this passage:
1. God has big plans for us, but we’ve gotta let him guide us in order to see those plans play out. We see the examples of a horse and a ship. These are both a form of transportation, guided by either a rider or a captain. That position needs be filled by Jesus. We need to submit, not only to have him guide us where he wants us, but also in order to carry Jesus everywhere we go. Get the metaphor? Jesus needs to go with us wherever we go.
2. The tongue is dangerous and destructive. The example of a forest fire comes into play here. Unfortunately, the tongue can be devastating. If a forest is a collection of trees, let’s say that each tree represents a person within a certain group (the group as a whole being the forest.) We can easily devastate a whole group with what we say. Think of racial slurs, bad mouthing different culture groups, and even condemning groups you think are sinning before really looking into the Scriptures to see if they are wrong or not.
3. The tongue is our main weakness, our crack in the wall guarding our morality. It is placed among our other body parts, which according to this passage seem easier to control than the tongue. If the tongue is truly in a position of power over us, instead of us being in a position of power over our tongues, then we’re in trouble. Hell itself sets our tongues on fire, so when we speak without having control of our tongues, we actually are speaking the way Satan would prefer.
This passage is really insightful about how we should speak. The spreading of gossip is no laughing matter. When you spread gossip, your tongue is set ablaze by hell itself, so the next time you spread a rumor, think of this passage and turn from these ways.
Your Brother in Christ,
Phillip
P.S. If anyone has any further commentary on this, please put comments on the link on Facebook and we’ll talk. Also, a study of the actual song will be discussed soon.
