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Essential Benefits of Spiritual Detox:
Getting Rid of Unhealthy Influences from Your Life –
Everyone wants to live a more positive life, but there are always negative influences that are trying to stop you. “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” James 4:4 (NKJV). They might come from the outside or from within you. Wherever they come from, there are hundreds of things that put dents in your motivation, self–confidence and happiness. It could be a friend or family member who seems only to criticize you, or it could be a nasty habit that you can’t shake. “The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray” Proverbs 12:26 (NKJV). Break free of materialism and look to God (instead of money and possessions) to meet your needs for happiness, significance, and security. Negative thought patterns are a thing that can hold you back when you can’t help but assume the worst all the time. But you don’t want these bad influences to rule your life. If you want to stop them from controlling you, you need to cut them out. But this isn’t an easy thing to do, so don’t let it get you down if you can’t change your entire life in a day. Since bad company corrupts good character, set boundaries to protect yourself from being influenced by unhealthy people, and cut off unhealthy relationships with people who are dangerous to your spiritual growth but won’t change. “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits” 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NKJV). You must ask the Lord to help you to rid those friends or people that entice you to sin and go down the wrong path. Ask God to show you when religion is corrupting the purity of the Gospel in your life, and to help you focus not on external behavior to try to earn God’s love, but on responding to the love that God has already given you by trusting Him in every part of your life. “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” Romans 5:10 (NKJV).
Taming the Untamable Tongue –
The Apostle James deals with the way we speak by giving us vivid word pictures that may help us see the true nature of the power of our communication through speech, which will affect our words, our thoughts and our deeds. “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 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. Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it 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. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh” James 3:1–12 (NKJV).
In our modern society most of us do not use horses in the same numbers and for the same purposes as the original readers of this letter did. We don’t use horses as one of the main means of our transportation, we have cars and other motorized vehicles. We don’t use horses to move heavy objects, we have trucks or tractors. We don’t use them to plow. So, horses are not as big a part of our lives as they once were, but most of us have at least seen or ridden a horse. So, we are aware of the power and strength of a horse. And when James talks about this majestic animal being led around by a small bit in its mouth, we can still get the point of the illustration.
And with a ship the same is true. I don’t know if any of you have gone on a cruise or had a chance to go to a large harbor and see some of the huge cargo ships or oil tankers which are thousands of tons and are directed by a rudder or propeller that is just a fraction of the overall size and weight of the ship.
And like the bit in the horse’s mouth or rudder of a ship, our tongue can be used to do great things. Our speech has the ability to greatly influence our life and the lives of those around us. Think of the tongue as a powerful agent that can assist us in producing good works or evil. Our tongue will always be led by what is in our heart. It is the captain of our mouth, it is the pilot of our tongue. First, he gives us illustrations on the power of the tongue in relation to its small size (vv. 3–5a). Second, he gives us illustrations of the dangers of the tongue (vv. 5b–8). Finally, he gives us illustrations of the double minded and hypocritical nature of the tongue when it comes to believers (vv. 9–12). Consequently, we need is God’s Word, so He is directing our heart, which directs our speaking, both internally and externally, which influences our hearts more deeply toward God. Now, James is warning us that the tongue is a willing participant, not only amplifying and reinforcing in our lives what is good, but also what is evil. So, now is the perfect time to detox our tongue, which is connected to our words, thoughts and deeds, in order for us to live a more spiritual rewarding life in Christ. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit” Proverbs 18:21 (NKJV).