Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

Sounds good, but it’s really not true. Words can hurt deeply, sometimes more than broken bones. What we speak says a lot about what’s in our hearts, and how we love people has everything to do with how we speak to them. That’s why God has a lot to say about the tongue, that slimy, slippery thing behind your teeth that helps you taste your food, spit out your gum, and form your words.

The tongue is a small muscle—not nearly as big as your arms or legs—but it can set the agenda for your whole body. The tongue is like a bit in a horse’s mouth or a rudder on a ship; it’s a little thing that controls a big object.

Have you ever seen a forest set on fire by a small spark? So much destruction from one little flame. The tongue is like that too. When our words are mean and cruel, it can feel like we’ve set our friends and family on fire!

Human beings have managed to tame all sorts of animals. We train dogs and cats to obey commands. We keep birds and fish and reptiles as pets. We can even make elephants and lions do tricks for us. And yet, it seems that no one can tame the tongue.

Thoughtless words shoot at people like arrows. Wicked words go down like poison. Be careful with your words, or someone is going to get hurt!

God gave us mouths for a reason: so we can speak the truth, praise God, and encourage our neighbors. But too often the same mouth is full of blessing and full of cursing. That isn’t right. When you turn on the faucet in the kitchen, you don’t expect fresh water one day and salt water the next. You want the same thing every time.

If you have an apple tree in your yard, wouldn’t you be surprised if one branch had apples, another had oranges, and another had bananas? In the same way, it’s shocking when the same mouth that sings sweet songs on Sunday then spews out sewage words the rest of the week.

If we want to be wise in the ways of the Lord, we will pay attention to the words that we speak. We can’t love from the heart if we don’t learn to tame the tongue.