As written and presented by Mary Whelchel

PROGRAM D-6061

I remember meeting a young woman in one of my business seminars who I discovered was a Christian. We began to share a little about ourselves. She told me about her job and her church, but what I heard was a stream of complaining and condemnation.

The church wasn't doing their job; nobody ever offered to help her. She was single and felt they should offer her special help. There were no programs at her church for single women. They never called her on the prayer chain. 'But,' she said, 'I know God wants me at this church.'

Then she told me about her new job and how they asked her to do too much and they weren't considerate of her. She had told her boss what she would do and what she wouldn't do, and wasn't going to let anyone take advantage of her. But she went on to tell me that she had been laid off from another job just a month before and found this new job in three days. That, as we all recognize, is a major miracle in this economy, and she commented how good the Lord was to give her a new job so fast.

As she walked away, I just shook my head. 'What's wrong with this picture?' I said to the Lord. I felt depressed and kept thinking about all the people in her life who don't know Jesus and wondering what kind of testimony she was to them. I could imagine that with that kind of tongue, she could do the cause of Christ some damage. Who would want to be a Christian if there was no joy, no praise, nothing to be thankful for?

I couldn't get her off my mind. I prayed for her. But I kept asking, 'What's wrong with this picture?' She did indicate she loved Jesus and prayed and was thankful for God's provision in her life, but that was surrounded with complaining and griping and dissatisfaction and criticism and self-pity.

Then it dawned on me: James 3:10: 'Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing...' And, as James goes on to say, 'This should not be.' When praise and cursing come out of the same mouth, it just isn't right; something's wrong!

And of course I immediately realized that I'm guilty of the same thing sometimes. Blessing and praising God one minute, complaining, worrying and criticizing the next. Can you relate to that? But James says if we can learn to control our words, we can keep our entire personalities in check. Everything about us is affected by our tongues-our relationships, our performance, our attitudes. That is the power which resides in this little thing called a tongue.

I want to remind all of us of how critical it is to learn to tame our tongues. Quite honestly, most of us need to do a better job of that, don't we?.

It's not too late for you to sign up for our Israel trip. We'd love to have you join us. Please click here for more information.

We depend on our readers to support us financially so that we can continue to provide this service. Would you consider sending a donation to help us? Any amount is appreciated. Click here to donate or call us at 1-800-292-1218.