During my childhood, Smokey the Bear stood as a reminder of our responsibility to avoid letting campfires get out of hand and turn into a forest fires. His slogan was “only YOU can prevent forest fires.” Because of Smokey’s influence, I have always been careful with bon-fires, burn piles, and campfires.

I wish someone would create such a visually impacting image for Christians in light of James 3:5-12.

If the body of Christ has a problem with one body part, it’s the mouth. How can we sing praises to Jesus and condemn those whom He loves? How can we declare the goodness of God with same mouth we allege the badness of His bride? Ecclesiastes 3:7 reminds us that among the seasons of life ordained by God are times to speak and times to keep silent. Seems to me we have a hard time remembering which is which these days.

When will the church ever realize that the enemy is satan and not someone else in the church membership? What if we exchanged the words used to gossip and criticize our fellow believers for words telling hurting people about the hope found in Jesus? What if we were as ardent about tearing down the gates of hell as we were about tearing down a brother in Christ?

According to Jesus, our tongues are an indictment of our hearts (Matthew 12:34). Let’s check our hearts and make sure they are full of Jesus so that He will be what comes out of our mouths today. Let’s be full of the Holy Spirit, so HIS fruit will be evident in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). When it comes to the raging infernos created by our words, only YOU can prevent forest fires.

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips! – Psalm 141:3