Many are familiar with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 15:8-9, where He says we can make our religion vain by “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. However, there is another way we can make our religion vain, which people may not be as familiar with. James 1:26 says, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.<\/em>” Consider the consequences of people not being able to control their tongues.<\/p>\n The word translated “useless” (“vain” KJV) means, “…to no purpose, in vain. Vain, empty, fruitless, aimless. It is building houses on sand, chasing the wind, shooting at stars, pursuing one’s own shadow” (The Complete Word Study Dictionary).<\/p>\n The point is as follows. A person may think his religion is acceptable, but it is not if he cannot bridle (control) his tongue. As the verse says, it is useless, i.e., of no benefit and unacceptable to God. A person may excel in many areas. He may give fifteen percent of his income to the church, live a good moral life, attend every church service, help people in need, and even teach Bible classes. Yet, if such a person cannot control his tongue, his religion is useless. Controlling our tongues is difficult (James 3:1-12), but we must do so. We must bridle that tongue!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Mike Johnson via Seeking Things Above Many are familiar with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 15:8-9, where He says we can make our religion vain by “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. However, there is another way we can make our religion vain, which people may not be as familiar with. James 1:26 says,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1430,1558,96],"class_list":["post-94296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-self-discipline","tag-speech","tag-tongue"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34258,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/profanity-is-unprofessional\/","url_meta":{"origin":94296,"position":0},"title":"Profanity Is Unprofessional","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0David Mielach, \"How Swearing at Work Could Ruin Your Career,\" Business News Daily, 26 July 2012 \"New research has found that 64 percent of employers think less of employees who swear at work and 57 percent said they would be less likely to promote a worker who swears in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35752,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-stop-saying-bad-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":94296,"position":1},"title":"How do you stop saying bad words?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Okay, I read\u00a0Careful What You Say, and I have to ask: what do we say when we can't say any of those words? What if I'm trying to stop, but it's such a habit it slips out sometimes, out loud and even in my head? I say it even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66829,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/let-not-many-of-you-be-teachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":94296,"position":2},"title":"Let Not Many of You Be Teachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment\" (James 3:1). James 3:1 makes this statement, but what does it mean? 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In the original, the word translated “bridle,” when used figuratively, means “to restrain, govern or control” (The Complete Word Study Dictionary). The same word is in James 3:2, which says, “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.<\/em>” In this context, the difficulty of controlling the tongue is discussed. The idea is that if people can manage the tongue, the more difficult task, they ought to be able to control the whole body, which is the easier task.<\/p>\n