On a recent Sunday morning some kind soul gave me a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I admit that I have a weakness for such things.
I sat down in a backroom about a hour before the beginning of church to review my sermon and to sample one of the cookies. I leaned back in my chair, closed my eyes and took a big bite. The cookie was absolutely delicious. I’m not bragging, but I am quite the connoisseur of such cookies, and this one was incredible. I took another enthusiastic bite, but this time I bit more than the cookies. I also bit the side of my tongue. I mean I really bit it. The pain was quick and excruciating.
I was able to preach that morning, but for the next couple of weeks I was very conscious of the sore on my tongue.
I don’t know about you, but I can think of so many times in my life that I WISH I had bitten my tongue, instead of speaking. Once we say something, it is said. Once we say something, we cannot unsay it.
The book of James in the New Testament is one of the most wonderful books in the Bible. These words are in the first chapter, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (1:19)
May God remind us today that “biting our tongue” is not always a bad thing. Let’s be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.