A Small Fire

James 3:5-6. The tongue is a small part of the body, James writes, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body, corrupting the whole person, setting the whole course of life on fire, and itself set on fire by hell.

In July, with wildfire season underway across much of the western United States, the image needs no explaining. A spark does not know how big the fire will become. The person who drops it usually did not intend the outcome. James is saying that words work the same way. A remark at dinner, a sentence typed and sent, a joke at someone's expense, none of them look like much at the moment of release. What they set alight cannot be called back.

Today's verse asks you to respect the size of what your tongue can do. Not to go silent, but to handle your words the way you would handle a match in dry grass.