What is an act of God

A woman’s house in Bowie County, Texas burned down in late March. That is not all that unusual. It is the method of its burning that is unusual. A spokesman for the Sherriff’s department gave the details.

The woman saw a snake in the grass outside her home. She obtained some gasoline and poured it on the snake. Then she set the snake of fire. Unfortunately, the snake did something the woman had not anticipated. It slithered into a pile of brush close to the house, setting it on fire. That brush fire then set the house on fire. Several fire departments responded to the scene but the house could not be saved.

That is sad. I wonder how the insurance company responded. That clearly is not an act of God. Do insurance companies take into account “acts of Satan”? After all, it was a snake.

Sometimes we do the same thing with our tongues. We think we are doing something only for the moment but the fire we spark by saying the wrong thing or with the wrong tone or wrong attitude can burn down our house.

James brings these two ideas together in James 3. First, he writes in verse 5: “the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” It only takes a spark to get a fire going… Then in verse 8, he brings in the imagery of the snake: “no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
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The mentality that creates this flaming poison is identified by Paul in Galatians 5:20 as “outbursts of wrath/anger” (NKJV; NASV) or “fits of anger/rage” (ESV/NIV).

To avoid burning our house down through the poison of our fiery tongue, we must exercise self-control. As my dad would say, “We’ve got to put our mind into gear before we put our mouth in to motion.” Taste your words first. Are they going to have the impact that you intend for them to have? Are they going to build up or tear down? Are they going to improve the situation or worsen the situation?

Don’t throw flames with your tongue. You may burn your house down.

–Paul Holland

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