July 19

James 3:3–4 (NIV84)
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.

What hope the Word of God brings today! What power God has given us within our tongues! The strength of horses and the mass of ships can be guided by a small thing, how much more can we be guided by what we say. If we could grab on to this, we would be changed forever.

One of the interesting things I see here is the phrase, “wherever the pilot wants to go”. The pilot has a will and he gets to steer the whole ship with his will. His will is the trigger and the bullet is the tongue! If we will use our will and our tongue to shoot we will go into the right direction. The problem arises when we don’t engage our will and let the “rudder” loose to do what it wants, or we have within our will envy and selfish ambition, then our will directs our “rudder” onto a course that will set our life on fire instead of bring our life into safe harbor.