James 3

James is still ranting about keeping my mouth in check. Ouch. Such strong language about it all too. He does such a good job showing how high the stakes are for us letting our mouth rage like a wildfire.

I set goals to clean up my mouth in 2008. It pretty much involved having a swear jar in our office. But rude, inappropriate, or offensive language is really only the tip of the iceberg that we need to steer our mouth away from. I think the real damage probably comes from gossip. I have always liked to think that I was fairly decent in this area. I don't tell people bad stuff about other people (much), and I can disguise talking bad about someone as a group problem solving session. But just to be honest, I still smell smoky.

A dear old lady I love smokes like a chimney. At this point in her life, there's little harm in her enjoying that one thing in her life. But even so, when we spend any time at her house, we all go home smelling like an ashtray. My point about that is that, whether or not I'm smoking, the second-hand smoke still stinks. So, even when I involve myself in any discussion that might be gossip, then I still stink too.

So my new standard for 2009 is this. First, would I have this exact discussion if this person were in the room? To put your mind at ease if you're my friend reading this, it's usually yes. Even when I share a story about one friend to another, it's not really a big deal. It's not disparaging them or exposing anything that was private. But, I want to get down to 0% in this area. No tolerance on this.

My second screen may prove to be harder. Am I having this discussion with the right people? It's one thing to bounce ideas off of a good friend. It's another to dump your junk in someone's lap and then not have the guts to go do something about it. I don't want to dump on my friends. If it's something that takes action, I want to go talk to the right people about it.

The last part of James is a tough pill to swallow, too. The stuff about ambition. I've long considered ambition to be a negative thing. In our culture it seems like a plus. But like this passage points out, it's motivated by selfishness. I want to have the kind of wisdom that is motivated by a passion for God. Like this:

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.

I guess the only way I'll know for sure when I get there is that I should see a big harvest of righteousness. But I wonder, what does that look like exactly?