With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be so. (ESV)

James, the half-brother of Christ, was instrumental in the early church. And in this letter, he writes encouragement that gives illustration to Paul’s writings. James’ encouragements both depend on God’s gifts to us of grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, and also God working out those gifts in us to produce the upright sort of life God desires. Yet no one always gets it perfect, not even the writers of the New Testament.  

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Look at Peter, who confesses openly that Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God (Matt. 16:16-17), yet with the same tongue he denies Jesus three times, deserting his Savior in the most difficult circumstances (Matt. 26:69-75).  Even John, the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved, desired to rain down fire on a Samaritan village that would not welcome Jesus (Luke 9:54-55).  James could pose his words from today’s verses to these stalwarts of the faith, just as we read them today. What kind of human wants to rain down fire on a village full of people from different backgrounds? What kind of tongue is willing to deny their Savior and friend? I’m sure even James had to preach these same words to himself at times.  

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So how are we doing? Do we both bless and worship God with our tongues and then curse others because of how they appear, or what they did to us, or whatever threat we think they might pose? Could we instead channel the judgements that pop into our minds into celebrating those differences or thank God for his brilliance in making someone completely different than me? May we learn to take each thought captive and see what Scripture would say about that negative thought.  

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One of my FAVORITE things to come across when I’m traveling is when I see someone abroad that reminds me of someone I know back home. Initially, I think of similar appearances, but then I realize it’s not the appearance at all, but their mannerisms or how they speak! It’s wild because, often, they are of a completely different skin color, appearance, and background! Think of how damaging to relationship it is when we, just by looking at a person, judge what category they fall into and decide they are not worth talking to? Meanwhile, what if God has been working in their heart, and you had the opportunity to be one that God uses in their journey, yet your bias prevented you from even speaking to them? God will still accomplish his good work, but you just missed out on the blessing.

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Maybe even closer to home: how are you doing with how you view yourself as an image bearer of God?  If you’re like me, I see value in other people groups, but I have recently railed on myself about how stupid I am, how ugly or incapable, or what a screw up I’ve made myself out to be. I hurl terrible language at myself, and worse, because of my poor reaction to hardship or not getting what I want, I wind up feeling crushed by how disappointing I must be to God!  Do you override God’s grace with your own negative view of yourself as though you were the final authority in your life?

The popular human response to these challenges is just do better. The world will tell us we can. But we see from Scripture that even the best and closest to Jesus will fail at taming the tongue. Praise God that by his grace, he loves to choose imperfect people to accomplish his perfect plan (Ps. 51:17). Jesus is our plumbline and friend, our relational reference, who himself always deferred to the Father in how to use his words and, ultimately, how to live.  

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What if we let the Spirit begin to shape how we see others and ourselves? Have you ever asked the Spirit how he sees you or what he thinks of you? What if we asked the Spirit to help us to see others the same way he sees them? I honestly believe we cannot do this well, seeing others or ourselves as image bearers of God, unless our Creator teaches us to see his creation as he sees it. Ask him to grow this in you today!

Kind Father, you are SO good to give us such variety of creation on Earth.  Help me to see your creation the way that you see it.  Train me to see myself and others the way that you see them. Spirit, what do you think of those that I have the hardest time thinking positively about?  Spirit, what do you think of me and want to say to me about how you see me?  Spirit, if there’s anything you would like to share with me on this subject or anything else, I am listening...