Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

Maturity, mediocrity or defeat

“Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn the whole body. Look also at ships: Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell," James 3:3-6.

Dear seeker of God’s direction,

The tongue may be very small, but like the rudder on a ship, it steers the entire direction of our life. This may not be immediately evident because words are seeds. Seeds take time to grow. The Bible says there is seed time and harvest. We will surely reap what we sow. Every seed is preprogrammed to produce something. Words, as seed, are no different. If given the right environment, they will surely produce their end product, for good or for bad. In Matthew 13:18-23, Jesus tells us the parable of a sower. The seed that he sows is the Word. The seed that falls on good ground will produce a thirty, sixty, or one hundred fold crop. This is the powerful thing about seed (whether it be good seed, or thorns, and thistles). You plant one seed, but you get multiple seeds back. With this thought, we ought to be careful to be wise farmers. 1Peter 1:23 refers to God's Word as incorruptible seed. Isn't that the kind of seed that you want in your garden? We will never rise above the level of our own words. Let's hide God's Word in our hearts so we might not sin against Him. Let's speak His Word day and night rather than the things we see and feel. Let's magnify the faithfulness of the Word rather than our circumstances. Each word that we speak, slightly steers the course of our life. At the end of your life you could look back and see that all that you accomplished and all that you were, was the sum total of the words that you spoke.