Verse: James 3:1-2
1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
Devotion
So, where do you want to start? James is giving two paths to “perfection,” while admitting neither you nor he is going to get there.
You can seek to become obedient to God’s will and God’s instructions for us. You can refrain from stealing, from lying, from doing wrong to others, drinking blood sacrificed to idols (this used to be a thing, it’s much less popular now, so that’s progress). You can love your neighbor, your enemy, and your God with all your heart. Chances are, in James’ line of thinking you’re still going to say something stupid and hurtful from time to time. My average is about two-three times per day; what’s yours?
Alternatively, you can turn your attention to your words. Avoiding all of James’ upcoming metaphors, I will say that this is taking the bull by the horns, face to snout. The more stupid things and the more hurtful things that I’ve said in my life tend to pop back up in my head at night, so I’ve done a bunch of this. I try, try, try to avoid hurting people with jests (except maybe Christian, and that’s covered under verse one, and I’ll clear it up below). I try to be quick to clear up a misunderstood text, or an awkward statement.
The truth is, I slip most when people expect me to be witty. People think I’m clever and sometimes we can build an expectation of ourselves out of the perceptions of others. When we’re trying to be overly clever, that’s where we get sloppy, prone to mistakes, and hurtful.
So, either way path we choose in our attempt … not really to “be perfect,” but just do better. We can take a step, and step again – that’s how you avoid stumbling, after all. We can pause before we speak. We can show kindness, even when we might do it right.
As for verse 1 – This is connected to why you often hear Christian referring to me as his fact checker. That’s why he’s got me working in tech with sound and the livestream, it keeps me from having enough free moments to text him during the message.
I do not think it is saying here that God will judge you more harshly as a teacher. I think that if that was true, it would be brought more throughout the Bible and I think that there’s no way I’d sign up to do morning devotions.
I do think it’s a practical statement. Particularly in the first century, but still today – teachers had a bigger audience, more people listening to them, and could do more damage, to others or their own reputations when they made mistakes.
Thanks to Facebook, though, a lot more of us are teachers than we realize. Have you ever posted a meme that someone tore into shreds or shared a post and had a Snopes article in a comment ten seconds later? We’re connected to public outlets and we can do more damage there. You can do something in person and hurt the two or three people you are with, or you can do the same thing on Facebook and hurt many, many more people.
Prayer
God, help me keep my tongue in check – my physical tongue and my digital tongue. Show me my next step, light my path in a way that I can learn to stumble less and less. Amen.
Author: Chris Simmons
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