Oh man – James is on a roll now!
He leaves chapter two “faith without works is dead” and continues on by talking about the power of speech.
“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.” (3:6)

James uses all sorts of images to remind us of the power of our words to do good or evil in the world:
Bits in the mouths of horses to direct the entire animal
Small rudder can steer a large boat
Forest fires start with only a spark

James is not shying away from making sure we understand how important it is to pay attention to what we say.
This fits so well with what James is saying about faith and works: we can SAY we believe, but unless we act it out in the world, it means nothing.
Likewise, we can’t say we love God and then speak poorly about others.
It’s just not possible.
“Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?” (3:11)
No.
James doesn’t leave room for misinterpretation.
Nope.
Your words say as much about your faith as your actions.
So speak wisely, speak kindly, and speak with love.

James ends this 3rd chapter with a lovely reminder of how to tell if things are from heaven or not… it’s a recipe of sorts:
“wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.” (3:17)

Want to know if what you’re saying or hearing is from heaven? Put your words or the words of others to the test – are they first pure? Peace-loving? Considerate? Full of mercy and good fruit? Are they then impartial and sincere?
I think we would take a lot less words to heart, we’d believe a lot less of what we hear, and we’d probably speak a lot less if we held speech to this standard.

Try it this week.  And let me know what happens.