Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Human Wildfires - #8301

Thursday, June 25, 2009

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Recently we drove through a stretch of Oklahoma that had just experienced some nasty wildfires. They were out of control for several days. The fires are over now, but we saw endless acres of scorched, blackened ground. The fires have passed, but the ugly scars still remain.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and it is no coincidence that when God talks about our tongue in the Bible, He talks about wildfires. “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark” it says. The tongue also is a fire…It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell” (James 3:5-6 ). What a picture of the damage we can do with our tongue: our angry words, our critical words, negative words, reckless words, harsh words.

Long after the fire of the words has passed, the dark scars are still there for years, and sometimes for life. All of us can still remember some of the names we were called long ago, some of the wounding words of a parent or a spouse, a teacher or a friend.

That’s why David cried out to God: “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3 ). We just cannot underestimate the power of our words; power to build a life or tear it down; power to be a channel for God’s love and encouragement, or for the devil’s destruction and darkness. For many of us, our temper, our tongue is the last frontier for the Lordship of Christ, because we’ve already left enough scars on the land.

This radio program references: James 3:5-6 ; Psalm 141:3