12.20- Words make things happen.

12.20-

Words make things happen. Bad things happen. Good things happen. We need to use them well and with proper thought before uttering them.

James 3.

3 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a ^[ax]stricter judgment. ² For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in ^[ay]what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. ³ Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our ^[az]life, and is set on fire by ^[ba]hell. ⁷ For every ^[bb]species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human ^[bc]race. ⁸ But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; ¹⁰ from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. ¹¹ Does a fountain send out from the same opening both ^[bd]fresh and bitter water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce ^[be]fresh.