Proverbs 16:27-29 – An ungodly man diggeth up evil:and in his lips there is as a burning fire.  A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.  A violent man enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good.

James 3:8 – But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

You have three kinds of men in this passage from Proverbs. You could probably call it the unholy trinity of the tongue.  The tongue or what comes out of our mouth can cause a lot of trouble. Evil thoughts are bad enough, but when you dwell on something long enough, it will eventually come out of your mouth.  I just want to discuss these three kinds of men (or women) and their tongues today in hopes that you do not have any of their characteristics.

1. The Ungodly Man – The ungodly man does not just deal with evil that comes his way, he goes looking for it.  He digs it up.  His lips are on burning up and he just can’t wait to speak evil and cuss up a storm.  Someone that goes looking for trouble is not the kind of person you want to hang around.  When your tongue is set on fire of hell, you probably don’t have much good to say.  An ungodly man with burning lips will always reveal himself by language and manner of speech.  When something is on fire it gives off light and is very visible.  Fire can also be out of control.  It is untamable.  Just look at some of the fires that occur in Southern California for example.  Those fires spread over miles and miles because they have plenty of good, dry fuel to consume.  The ungodly man is always digging up plenty of fresh fire wood for his tongue to spread for evil.
2. The Froward Man – The froward man does not just deal with strife in his life, he goes looking for it as well.  He cultivates it in his life by growing it.  He likes strife.  It is a game to him.  The froward man likes to have contention.  He is constantly stirring up trouble.  He uses his tongue to spread gossip.  He tries to play both sides of a situation and gets one side mad at the other.  He enjoys watching a good fight.  He spreads false rumors just to get other people mad at each other.  He has no regard for people who are hurt or churches that destroyed.  He just likes turmoil and strife.  He is the church splitter and the adulterous woman.  He likes to destroy things.
3. The Violent Man – The violent man uses a little different attack.  He likes enticement.  He likes to talk people into doing evil by portraying evil as something beautiful to be desired and something that will make you wise.  He is the beer commercial that shows you beautiful women and all the fun and pleasures of sin.  He entices or leads people like an ox to the slaughter.  He uses the tongue also to lead people astray through sweet and kind words.  What he does not show is the destroyed homes and wrecked lives of a life lived in sin.  What he does not show you is the violence and abuse that goes with his wicked life.  He entices just like the devil did with Eve in the garden.

So try and learn something from this unholy trinity of the tongue.  These are not the kind of people or the kind of “Christians” you want to hang around.  Make sure you don’t have any of these chacteristics and don’t be around anyone who does.

Photo by Tambako the Jaguar