(Every day of this week I will be reading James 3 — Join me!)

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” James 3:1 NIV

“We all stumble in many ways…” (verse 2) How true this is! It is important to guard our hearts. Sin is crouching at the door wanting to devour us. (Genesis 4:7) That is our enemy’s plan for us — steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10)

BUT, God has given us the way to keep our way pure:

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

James 3:2 also tells us, “Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.”

What we say matters! Jesus told us “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45) What is in your heart comes out! It will be on display for all to see. If your heart is full of the Word/ God, your mouth will speak the Word. What comes out of your mouth will build up and give life to those around you who need it desperately.

Teachers — One who instructs … a preacher; a minister of the gospel. (Webster’s 1828) — will be judged more strictly. We must present the Word accurately, not full of our own opinion.

We cannot take lightly the privilege that God has given us to share Jesus with those around us. People are watching us. They are listening to everything we say. Our words have power to influence others. This is why “we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Whatever capacity we are “teaching’ {instructing, informing, communicating to others the knowledge of that of which that person was before ignorant about God (Webster’s 1828)} — whether it be as a parent to our children, or a mentor to their mentee— we are influencing others for good or bad with what we say.

May our hearts be full of God’s Word and may His Word be the overflow of our lives! May we speak His Word accurately in every situation and circumstance! It is alive and active. It will produce good in our lives and in the lives we influence with what we say.