Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
A little while ago, in verse 19, James laid out a roadmap to spiritual success in God’s eyes. He said we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. (We examined these three principles in the posts titled: Stop the Spinning! – James 1: 19 Part I, Pause Button – James 1: 19 Part II, Spiritual Gemstones – James 1: 19 Part III, and The Patience of God – James 1: 20.) Today he returns to the principle of “be slow to speak.”
Are you religious? Wondering what James was thinking when he chose that word, I looked it up in Strong’s Concordance. The Greek word James used was, thrēskos. It suggests a pious and public kind of attitude towards God. Such a person might cry out to God loudly in the street, or find other ways to show others how religious they are.
It is interesting here that James does not talk directly to “Those Who Consider Themselves Religious And Yet Do Not Keep A Tight Rein On Their Tongues.” (I feel like we should make an acronym for this phrase. Would it be easier if instead, I wrote TWCTRAYDNKATROTT?) So who is James talking to?
The people James is talking about are people who would not be listening to James. These people, the TWCTRAYDNKATROTT crowd, are too full of themselves to listen to someone like James. The people James is talking to are those who are willing to listen to him.
Those Who Are Willing To Listen (TWAWTL) are people who might be misled by TWCTRAYDNKATROTT, so James is exposing them. He writes, “…their religion is worthless!” Wow, that is pretty strong language. Not only that, James calls them out for a specific reason – running their mouth. He doesn’t give an example, but in my imagination, I’d guess the “religious” person is busy telling other people how to be “religious” like them.
Application: James offers us an opportunity to make sure our religion is worth something to God. The only catch is that we have to be willing to listen.
Food for Thought: How do TWCTRAYDNKATROTT deceive themselves?
Well that is quite the acrostic brother 😉. I like it. I think when we approach life as religious only, we leave behind the most important thing: a relationship with God Himself. We have a preset agenda and are not open to being instructed by God’s word or the Holy Spirit. We already have it figured out. Thus, we are deceived but not open to change. This is a dangerous combination that leads to what we see in the Pharisees. I think another word for this is pride.
Rich,
Great point! Pride is, I think, strongly related to TWCTRAYDNKATROTT.
We live in a society where every value and lifestyle is tolerated. It easy to deceive ourselves because society won’t reject it. Plus we also tend to compare ourselves to others… I’m doing better than so and so. This falls short of God’s standatd.
Hi Rob,
You raise an important issue. If society is hostile to our values, it is more of a challenge to stay true to our values. On the other hand, it is also more important to stay true to our values.
Same as Rich and Rob. This always makes me take a step back and humble myself not to judge, slow to anger, slow to speak, be understanding, and kind. I’m trying to learn more when I say something back I need to remember if I have the choice to be right or be kind always pick kindness.