Yesterday a good friend posted a simple request on Facebook. She asked her friends to stop discussing politics on their feeds. The comments ranged from “You are so right! I hate all the arguing!” to “Freedom of speech.” Wherever you stand on that issue, surely the constant arguing that is happening in our country is wearing us all down.

James had a lot to say about “taming the tongue.”

James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a  The Message

^13-16 Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish plotting. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

^17-18 Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

4 ^1-2 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

^2-3 You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. 

“You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done.” OUCH!

Think about the last argument you had with your spouse, or consider the enormous political division that exists in our country, and look again: 4 ^1-2 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

James really tells it like it is, doesn’t he? He insists that it is our own selfish personal desires – what he calls our war within – that create the conflicts in our families and communities and inner selves. Because we want more – more attention, more respect, more power, more authority – our wanting puts us in direct conflicts with our own families, church, community, and country. 

We want to be right. We want to be in control. We want to have our own way.

This is not the way of the followers of Christ, friends. Verse 17 reminds us of the way we are to follow: It begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

So what can you do to get along with others? Are you gentle and reasonable or are you exercising your right to free speech at the expense of others? Are you contributing to a healthy, robust community that lives right with God, or are you your own island?

God calls us to treat each other with dignity and honor. May we do all in our power to live up to this.

Getting Along by Michelle Robertson