COPING WITH THE TONGUE AS CHRISTIANS

"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell" James 3:6 (KJV) A christian is a disciple of Christ Jesus, a disciple is a pupil, student, an apprentice learning the skills of the master with a vision of becoming like the master if not more. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to do a work and knew he was limited by time in his human nature, so chose and raised men he set aside, tutored and mentored in His life of prayers, teachings of the good news, healing of the sick, raising the dead back to life and increased their faith by telling them that greater things than they have seen Him do shall they do in His name. He also told them of his sufferings, death and resurrection and ascension into heaven; He promised them not to leave them orphans but to send them the Holy Spirit that will lead them into all truths and it was fulfilled on Pentecost when the church was birthed. Christians are therefore marked by the Holy Spirit of God in them, cf Eph.1:13-14, 2nd Cor. 1:21-22, 1Pet. 1:23 and as such should live lives worthy of our calling. The church of God is comprised of Christ as head while the christians are members of His body. It becomes pertinent that christians must lead Holy lives without which no eyes shall see God. The tongue is one organ of our members that defile us thereby breaking our link with God; as the body is pitched in a-position with the Spirit of God in us. The seriousness of the matter was raised by Christ Himself in Mtt. 5:22,"But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgement: and whosoever shall say to his brother Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire".KJV. It becomes something one must consciously pray about as a christian, that God should tame the tongue so as not to offend Christ Jesus (2nd Tim 2:14, Jer 23:22); but rather live in the Spirit such that we are mindful of what we say no matter the difficulty(2nd Tim 2:3) in order to be worthy disciples of Christ Jesus (2nd Tim 2:19) Nwali Theophilus Chinedu