31 October 2005 Devotion for Today “Heavenly Wisdom” James 3:9-12
On the Albemarle we have several bodies of water that abounds in tremendous beauty of God’s creation. The salty waters of the Atlantic line dominate the coastline along the Outer Banks. At Oregon Inlet the Pamilico and Albemarle Sounds converge and both run approximately a hundred miles in both directions, with great rivers, tributaries, and streams running into them. The Weeksville peninsula where I live is situated between the Pasquotank and the Little Rivers. The Newbegun Creek is the closest body of water to my home, flowing into the great Pasquotank it is full of beauty with moss-covered cypress trees that line its banks. The water appears black in color due in part to the sandy river bed and the marshy tributaries which flow into it. But it you dip a bucket into the water and draw it out, the water appears as clear as crystal. It is also freshwater, whereas the Pasquotank has a slight brackish taste to it. The Albemarle is stronger yet with much seawater flowing into the Oregon Inlet, depending upon the tide. The region is a sportsman’s paradise with many species of fish and game abiding. The majestic American Bald Eagle flies over our shores. The alligator is even known to swim in our waters and occasionally is spotted by fishermen.
James 3:12 asks “Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.” We have at least two vineyards in Weeksville. They produce Scuppernong and Muscadine grapes. Both possess also fig trees. I have observed them and James is right. There are no grapes growing on the fig trees. Nor do the figs grow on the grape vines. The Newbegun Creek, which nourishes these vineyards, produce fresh water. If it was salty, the vineyards would die, and so would our sportsman’s paradise and the vegetable crops which abound here in Weeksville.
The point that James makes in this verse is that the tongue is like the source of our rivers. While it may be brackish at some points, it starts out as freshwater-like the Newbegun, or salty like the Atlantic. But it doesn’t flow fresh and salty at the same time or in the same proportions. Yet there is a phenomenon which abounds in mystery and that is the use of our tongue. With it, James says, “we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.” If our waters flowed in the same way that our mouths spout out both blessing and cursing, Weeksville would be a vast wasteland- a desert. A tragic scourge of nothingness would lay between our shores. This is unfortunately lies around us in the hearts of those whom we have both blessed and cursed with the same lips and tongue which God has given it. And it certainly ought not to be so. The power of God, however, can transform our mouths into instruments of blessing and love with enough to share to everyone around us.
Consider today what is the source of your heart? Is it salty, or is it fresh?
Have a blessed day.
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