From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. (James 3:10-12)

Here’s the tone that James, brother of Jesus is writing: there is a huge difference between what we believe and how we act, especially noticeable is the dichotomy between our speech or words and our actions.

The interesting thing is that James knows that it is impossible to live so flawlessly. In fact, we would be perfect if we could do that. But since the conclusion is that we’re imperfect people, we need to figure out how to curb that imperfection as much as we can, not that we’ll ever get there (perfection), but in the hopes that the grace of God would instill in us His power to speak and do good.

I don’t really think I need to elaborate on the Bible passage to explain what and how we should be speaking to people, but just in case you believe it’s up for interpretation, allow me to clear it up for you.

We can’t claim to embody love if we are beating up on people with our words. If we are harsh with our words, then we have to ask ourselves whether we even know what we’re embodying.

So you remember that thing you said to your friend of family yesterday? We know you didn’t mean it, but you were frustrated and they were starting to annoy you, was that right?

What about the whipping you put on your co-worker? The negative thing you said in passing to your child or spouse or significant other; would that be considered as an embodiment of Christ love?

Let’s consider the things we say, and use our words to build and not tear down.