Resolve to Control My Tongue

To coincide with Allen’s series on the book of James the past several weeks, here is a list of 20 resolutions from James on how to control our tongue, put together by Sinclair Ferguson.

1. I resolve to ask God for wisdom to speak out of a single-minded devotion to him. (1:5)
2. I resolve to boast only in the exultation I receive in Jesus Christ and also in the humiliation I receive for Jesus Christ. (1:9-10)
3. I resolve to set a watch over my mouth. (1:13)
4. I resolve to be constantly quick to hear and slow to speak. (1:19)
5. I resolve to learn the gospel way of speaking to both rich and poor. (2:1-4)
6. I resolve to speak in the present consciousness of my final judgment. (2:12)
7. I resolve never to stand on anyone's face with the words I employ. (2:16)
8. I resolve never to claim as reality in my life what I do not truly experience. (3:14)
9. I resolve to resist quarrelsome words as evidence of a bad heart that needs to be mortified. (4:1)
10. I resolve never to speak decided evil against another out of a heart of antagonism. (4:11)
11. I resolve never to boast in anything but what I will accomplish. (4:13)
12. I resolve to speak as one subject to the providences of God. (4:15)
13. I resolve never to grumble. The judge is at the door. (5:9)
14. I resolve never to allow anything but total integrity in everything I say. (5:12)
15. I resolve to speak to God in prayer whenever I suffer. (5:13)
16. I resolve to sing praises to God whenever I'm cheerful. (5:14)
17. I resolve to ask for the prayers of others when I'm in need. (5:14)
18. I resolve to confess it whenever I have failed. (5:15)
19. I resolve to pray with others for one another whenever I am together with them. (5:15)
20. I resolve to speak words of restoration when I see another wander. (5:19)

Building Our Own Tower of Babel

by Chloe

Sometimes as I pass through the motions of everyday life, I hear God trying to tell me something. Something big, something profound, something to which I should pay attention. Something to ponder, something to record. For what purpose? That is not always clear in the moment. It is enough to recognize the instruction and to be compelled to obey.

A few days ago I had one of these moments while driving on I-565 past the Space and Rocket Center. It was a moment where I felt that God revealed a profound truth to me ... one of those "light bulb" moments. In an instant, I saw something clearly that I had not realized before. I knew I needed to ponder it, listening for what else might be revealed. I tried to make a mental note to come back to later, when I had time. But later I could not remember, and I felt a profound sense of loss, that somehow carelessly I had discarded something very precious.

How intimately God knows our human frailties! I should not be surprised that He is patient and would simply instruct me again, in much the same way that I repeat myself over and over to my two-year old. So yesterday as I drove down I-565, I heard Him again. Then as I found myself awake in bed this morning in the wee hours, I knew it was time to ponder and write. All is provided ... a quiet house, sleeping children ... and so I meditate on what I heard in the shadow of the towering Saturn V rocket.

Your people in this time are no different than those of old. You squander precious time and resources building your own Tower of Babel. You do this INSTEAD of doing what I have instructed. I created you, I know what you need to have a good life in your time on earth: physically, mentally, spiritually. I have clearly told you what to do. But your people instead neglect the work I have designed you for and pursue your own agenda. You think your way is better than Mine. You dare to believe that you can improve upon My design! You are as stiff-necked a generation as I have ever seen! Rebellious as the Israelites, proud as the Pharisees. You stand in a time where your knowledge of history is unparalleled, yet instead of learning from it you are doomed to repeat it.

[Read the rest here...]

A handle on the inside

He was a POW in Vietnam. A kept-guest in the Hanoi Hilton for 6 torturous years.

Locked in a 5 x 6 cell, you have time to do some serious thinking about suffering and about living and about dying.

Medal of Honor winner Leo Thorsness shared some sobering thoughts in The Huntsville Times yesterday (Sept 7) about being shot down by an enemy fighter in 1967. And about his release in March 1973. And about life since then.

According to Mr. Thorsness, “If a door’s got a handle on the inside, that’s a good day.”

As believers in Christ, shouldn’t we be living with that same attitude every day? Haven’t our grubby hands turned the handle on the beautiful Door to enter the Kingdom? Ever since Peter was handed the keys, he’s left the door unlocked for all who believe in Jesus to walk right through. Can it get any better than that? Isn’t release from our self-made prisons of sin and suffering cause enough for triumphant celebration?

Mr. Thorsness described his day of release this way: “We showed no emotion at all until the airplane broke ground. Then we all let it go; it was total jubilation. I’d waited six years and then to have your freedom, all that emotion was released, it was a phenomenal experience.”

A phenomenal experience indeed. We, too, have our freedom. Total freedom. Let’s praise the Lord every day for being the Door...with a handle on the inside.

Jesus said, “I am the door.
If anyone enters by me, he will be saved
and will go in and out and find pasture.”
~ John 10:9