[The tongue] is a restless evil,
full of deadly poison.
—James 3:8
Your words have eternal consequences. Jesus warned, “The words you say now reflect your fate then” (Mt 12:37 NLT).
The average human tongue is 3.3 inches long. But its influence is disproportionate to its size. James 3 describes the tongue as a bit (v. 3), a rudder (v. 4), and a spark (v. 5).
There is disproportion between the size of the bit and the size of the horse it controls; the size of the rudder and the size of the ship it navigates; the size of the spark and the conflagration it causes.
That small muscle in your mouth sets off unrecallable results. Be warned: “It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (v. 8). Harm and hurt find an ally in an uncontrolled tongue.
Your tongue is little but lethal.