Loose lips sink ships

 

Even though it has been 20+ years, I still remember a time at my Mom's house like it was yesterday.   It was 5:30am and I was reading in James, chapter 3.  

I jumped out of my seat and went running down the hallways to my mother's room.  Mom was clearly asleep and my one-sided, enthusiastic conversation went something like this:

"MOM?!!  Are you up?!!.....I was just reading in James 3.  Loose lips sink ships!  LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS!!"

What are we speaking to one another, and in the hearing of others?  We either speak life or death - that's the power of the tongue.   

We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.  Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.  Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.  James 3:2-5 NIV

I had certainly heard this phrase before, but now I saw it in the Word.  Loose lips sink ships.  I found out that this phrase was coined as a slogan during WWII as part of the US Office of War Information's attempt to limit the possibility of people inadvertently giving useful information to enemy spies.

Do you realize that there is an enemy in this world who is looking for the opportunity to get us to agree with his side?  One tactic is through our tongue, as the tongue gets us into trouble because we forget to monitor what it is we are saying.

Loose lips can cost us to lose part of life and the life of our hearers.  Do you want to be a life-giver or a life-taker, by your words? 

is carrot cake.....

....so incredibly yummy that it is not of this world to you?  

Maybe you would consider a certain relationship you have as not of this world? 


I wonder if this is because we think a particular thing or person is almost too good for this world as we know it?  Could it be that out of this world is something that is extra-ordinary? 

I find it fascinating that Jesus spoke of something that was truly out of this world.  It might surprise you to know that He considered US to be not of this world! 
 
This is what I command you:  that you love one another.  If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you.

If you belonged to the world, the world would treat you with affection and would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world [no longer one with it], but I have chosen (selected) you out of the world, the world hates (detests) you.  John 15:17-19 AMP

It sure seems like a bit much for the natural mind to conceive, right?  But Jesus said that those who believed in Him and received Him become of another world - not the world that we only see with natural eyesight.  What world?  A world that is from above, a spiritual seeing and knowing, not natural but super natural. 

You can hear the sound of the wind, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.  John 3:8

This is just what He meant when speaking of those who are born again.  To receive a new life in Him, not from the natural birth of a mother, but a new birth by His Spirit.  

Are YOU of this world?