Last Sunday, our pastor preached on minding our words, from James chapter 3 — “The tongue is a fire” (verse 6). However, at the moment, my tongue on fire.
This is the first night of Operation: Green Tomatoes. I decided to go with a cheese and bread pudding recipe from my vegetarian cookbook, mainly because I had everything on hand to make it and I didn’t have to go to the store for anything. It doesn’t actually call for green tomatoes, but I figured I would just layer slices on top for an inventive twist. So far, so good.
The recipe gave flexibility on the type of cheese used, and what I had on hand was shredded pepper-jack. I didn’t have Dijon mustard so I used spicy brown mustard instead. Just because, I sprinkled a little white pepper in with the seasonings too. I mixed everything up and popped it into the oven…
And it was good!
And HOT!
In retrospect, maybe a so-hot-you’ll-sweat supper wasn’t the greatest choice after all, for a day when the heat index is up to 106° F and every fan in the house is running to keep a comfortable breeze tickling us. At the very least, I should have saved a cool cucumber from my salad to douse the fire.
If a peppery little bread pudding is burning my mouth off right now, then what was it like for the disciples to receive tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-3)? Or for Isaiah to have his mouth washed out with a burning coal instead of soap (Isaiah 6:6-7)?
It seems to me that the main difference between these burning mouths and the hot-shot tongue of James 3:6 is the type of fire. James 3 warns about a destructive fire — whereas Hebrews tells us our God is a consuming fire (chapter 12, verse 29). These words seem to have similar meanings until you consider context: Would I rather be consumed by God or destroyed by my own words?
Not the same thing at all.
Got hot words? Which way are they burning?
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(By the way, I talked myself right into a frozen fruit pop while I was writing this. Metaphors notwithstanding, if you’re anywhere in dangerous heat, stay cool!!)
