James 3:10-13 -- On Choosing

"Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom."
James 3:10-13


I think that this touches on something that we often try to do in our lives... play both sides. Indulge the body and still protect the soul... ride the fence, try to be one person with our friends and another with authority figures. We embrace the whole split-personality thing that is part of mortal existence, but instead of working towards wholeness and correct balance, or even an unbalanced choice focusing only on one side or the other, we try to have it all... to play both sides and avoid the consequences, thinking we can juggle it all. Here and elsewhere (Matthew 6:24 for instance), God tells us that we can't. We have to make a permanent and lasting choice, and when that choice is to put God first, then everything else falls into its proper place (or out of our lives).

This verse is talking about what we say... which matters, not so much because of how it affects other people, although of course that is important on one level, but because of how it affect US, and who we are. We aren't committing and becoming heavenly people if we are clutching desperately at our souvenirs of Hell. We have to let go of one side or the other if we want to start moving again... and to be clear, letting go of Hell is the correct choice--it absolutely matters which direcetion we are heading.

Today, let's stop continually poisoning ourselves with evil, and determine to let it go. Let's start cleaning up our conversation and our contentions and conflicts and really dedicate ourselves to loving God and other people. Let's make the choice that we need to make in order to move forward and become the better people that we need to be.