Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Behold, 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. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh.This passage encourages me to be quite sparing in commenting upon it. It speaks for itself quite plainly anyway, I think. Perhaps it is sufficient to say that saying nothing is seldom a mistake, and even when it is a mistake, it's one that's easily corrected. There are exceptions to every rule, but in general, when you later decide that you really should have said something, you can usually still say it ("I love you" is the exception that comes immediately to mind here). But saying something when it would have been better not to is basically uncorrectable; you can apologize for what you said, but you can't really unsay it.
And I speak from sad experience.
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3 comments:
All true.
My experience proves the same.
Enough said.
Yeah it's an unruly little beast, and has jumped up and bitten me in the posterior on more than one occasion.
My Dad always use to tell me "The Golden Rule is the greatest moral truth. If you don’t believe in it, at least try to fake it."
My Mom always told me "If you have nothing nice to say, then keep silent."
Amen.
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