Category: Taming the Tongue
Consider the importance of words. We are surrounded by words. Our bookshelves are filled with books...which are filled with words. The computer screen is filled with words. The dinner table is flooded with words (especially with three kids 8 and under). The church foyer is filled with words. Our iPods are full of words (except for the rare few who listen only to instrumental classical music). TVs, billboards, streetsigns, menus, brochures, mailboxes, email boxes, food labels are all covered with words. The locker room, water cooler, restaurant, doctor's office, board room, judo gym, classroom, hallway, work site, are all places where conversations take place and words fill the air.
We use words, either written or spoken, to communicate with others, to convey our desires, to make requests, to answer questions, to warn of danger, to express our love, to indicate our approval or disapproval, and so on. Virtually every meaningful aspect of life requires the use of words somewhere along the line.
Words are key components of productivity. When mankind had a universal language and could communicate with everyone else in the world with the same terminology, God Himself declared, "now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them" (Gen. 11:6). A common purpose shared by those of a common dialect will bring success. God's method of stopping mankind's universal plan was to confuse their words, to disrupt their ability to speak to one another.
God cares about words. To prove this, one needs only to remember that He entrusted the sacred truth of salvation to be transmitted and communicated by words (the "foolishness of the message preached," 1 Cor. 1:21). Christ sent His apostles into the world to "preach the Gospel." Preaching involves words. It involves one person speaking utterances to one or more people. In addition to the oral transfer of the Gospel by the disciples, God providentially ensured that the message was written so that generation after generation could read the life-giving words of eternal life in Christ. In our own day, mulititudes of people are at work translating the Bible into new languages so that the words of Scripture can be understood. We notice that the goal is not to draw pictures of Bible stories, or to produce silent movies, but to put the message of Jesus Christ into words capable of being read.
On the Day of Pentecost when the promised Spirit of God was poured out upon the Church, He was manifested not as a nebulous ghostly being, nor as a dove as previously, but as tongues of fire. His immediate effect upon the disciples was their ability to expound the Gospel through languages previously unknown to them. The Holy Spirit was about to embark upon a cosmic evangelistic mission, taking the Good News of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth, and He would do so by the means of words.