There's a Crack in Your Armor Perry Stone

and controlling what you say. James chose three different analogies in James 3 to demonstrate to the reader the importance of self-control: a bit, a rudder, and a spark of fire (vv. 3–6). The bit is placed in the mouth of a horse to control the direction of the entire body of the animal. The rudder is built on the back of a ship, and by the captain turning the rudder the entire ship’s direction can be determined. One small spark has caused massive fires, burning hundreds of acres that cannot be controlled once the fire spreads. A bit is small compared to a horse, a rudder is small compared to the entire ship, and a spark seems like nothing when compared to the entire fire. So the tongue is a small member of the body, but it can cause more damage at times than an entire wild fire! Men can tame a wild bear and a lion yet have difficulties taming their own tongues. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” The apostle Peter added, “He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit” (1 Pet. 3:10). An untamed tongue “sets on fire the course of nature” (James 3:6). The Greek word for “course” here is trochos ; it means, “a wheel,” referring to a circuit that a runner runs or the circuit of human life. The Greek word for “nature” means, “procreation, birth, and nativity.” The phrase refers to the wheel or life process set in motion from the moment of birth, continuing throughout our entire life. From the beginning of life images are implanted in our minds because of words. Men and women are incarcerated today because when they were a child or teen, someone set their mind and spirits on fire with