Lesson 13: Destructive Faith
James 3:6-12 
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,
8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?
12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Our verses today show us that faith can be destructive to us if we have faith in the wrong things. One of the greatest destructive faiths we can have is that of believing we can trust our own feelings or instincts, trusting that we know what is right for anything in our lives.

Our tongue becomes a fire when we say things, even when we do not mean to, that either are misunderstood or are hurtful to others.


Since we cannot know what someone else is thinking, we should never presume that they think the same thing we do. One day, not long ago, I was talking with my best friend. We had been talking about a place we had visited together (near the ocean), and I mentioned another place I hope to visit someday (in the mountains). My thoughts had jumped to this new place as my friend also said it would be a great place to visit. I suggested going riding would be a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. I was thinking of riding horses. My friend, however, said riding was not an option because she did not like the sounds the motors made. This made no sense to me because horses do not have motors. I looked at her with the question about to be asked of how she thought a horse could have loud motors. I would have hurt her feelings by my sarcasm. I discovered she was remembering an unpleasant sound of racing speedboats we had encountered on our visit to the ocean.

We can never truly know what another person is thinking. We can only listen to them carefully, if we take the time, and begin to understand a bit. If we have not shared every experience with them (and we cannot say that of any person), we cannot know where something painful or distressing might come to their minds through something we say, reminding them of an event we do not know about.

But all our harmful words are not always unintended. Sometimes, because we are angry or hurt, we say things intended to hurt others. As our verses today tell us, this should not be so. We must learn to rely on Jesus and His Spirit to guide us in what we say to anyone.

Memorize: Proverbs 15:1 - A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.