That one can deceive himself or herself is demonstrated by James. In previous meditation, he hinted that treating the word right like reading, meditating, and confessing without obeying it is self-delusion. Today again, another thing that can constitute self-deceit is mentioned; that is, loose, lousy tongue. Incidentally, this is the second time within eight verses that James stressed the need to have our tongue in check. Earlier, he had written about being swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. The reason for that is that words spoken in anger don’t correlate with the righteousness of God. In our text, the use of the tongue is woven with our religious claim. Inability to control what comes out of our mouth reduces our religion to mere hot air.
As a rule of thumb, all words must aim at edifying people. A few words spoken to lift people’s spirits are better than several thousand without purpose.
Women are generally assumed to speak more words than men. However, new studies have shown that there is parity among both sexes. It is approximately 16,000 words per day for both groups. Really, the concern should not just be how many words are spoken daily. A more important consideration is the content. Someone who speaks few words but are like sword launched into the souls of others have nothing to pride about. The general counsel is to be of few words; but the overall concern should be the effects that we are generating. As a rule of thumb, all words must aim at edifying people. A few words spoken to lift people’s spirits are better than several thousand without purpose.
