THE TONGUE: A POWERFUL TOOL.

Biologically the tongue is the sense organ for taste.Owing to the functions the tongue performs, it is a multipurpose sense organ.
As it concerns speech-sound, it's functions is often confused with that of the lips.It's functions cuts across communication,preaching of the good news,and proclamation of belief,expression of feelings and emotions,prayers and praises,enthronement,prophecy,pronouncing of blessings,promises,etc.
It is often misused especially when used for gossip,dethronement,curse,excommunication,pronunciation of judgment.The tongue by its nature is fleshy and flexible.It can express mischievous utterances if it is not well controlled.The tongue has to be controlled for man to be strictly responsible generally.Uncontrolled tongue is very dangerous.It (uncontrolled tongue) can put one in a very serious trouble.
Then the question is how the tongue be controlled?
It is very difficult to controlled the tongue due to its flexibility.But this does not mean that it cannot be controlled.It can be controlled but to do that one has to be extremely careful.There are suggested ways by which the tongue can be controlled.Before one aims at the controlling the tongue,one must understand that the tongue is made for good.It is made for godly utterances.In order to eschew troubles one must learn to count his words.
Gossip is one of those unwholesome uses of the tongue.To trace the cause of gossip is a right step in the right direction as long as the quest for control of the tongue is concerned.One of the causes is idleness.Prevention they say, is better than cure.To prevent idleness one has to be busy at all times.One can be physically busy or mentally busy.Physical business involves engaging oneself in a visible venture whereas mental business involves engaging oneself in positive mental reasoning.Mental business also involves one pondering on events so as to make positive beneficial changes that will affect the life of people.
Another way by which the tongue can be controlled is by exhibiting silence in sometimes especially when one is tempted to utter wrongly.Silence they say, is golden.Silence is never misquoted.One can greatly control one's tongue if one tries to be silent when one does not know what to say at any particular point in time.It is better to keep quite instead of making a sound which one cannot be held responsible for.
In addition one can control one's tongue by listening to music and also singing songs.Music they say, is the food of the soul.One's soul is uplifted when one listens to a kind of music of one's choice.
Spoken words are very powerful.They can build and they can also demolish.They can cause war.Spoken words can trigger enmity.Anyone that is addicted to gossips must have a low esteem among his mates.A gossip is always feeling sense of guilt.Gossip is very bad.It kills a person's image.It can kill one and put others in trouble.
Consider the case of David in the bible.When David committed adultery and impregnated Bathsheba,he convicted himself by the judgment he made when prophet Nathan indirectly likened his acts to an imaginary king who committed the same gravity of offense he committed.Even when his son impregnated the sister God pronounced cause upon the family.That cause is what is happening now in the modern day Israel.War has become an integral part of the life of Israelis up til this day.
Jehoshaphat uttered a promise to dedicate anything; man or animal that shall welcome him after his conquest in a war.Behold the person that welcomed him as he stepped his toe inside his compound was his one and only daughter.He had no other option than to fulfill his promise.Even Hannah,after years of barrenness,instead of been barren for life promised to give God the child she will give birth to if only God will bless her with the fruit of the womb.Was it not Isaac's tongue that he used in blessing Jacob and causing Esau which descendants of Esau are suffering till date?Was it not the tongue that Jesus used in causing a fig tree?Was it not the tongue that Elisha used to lay cause on Gehazi which resulted in his seven fold possession of Naaman's leprosy? And most especially,was it not the tongue that GOD used to create the universe? Even Jesus performed so many miracles with just a words that preceded from His mouth.This tells us how powerful this tool is.
One of the greatest benefits of controlling the tongue is that it gives life.A man with a controlled tongue is very much respected in the society than the one who is loquacious.Control of the tongue is a virtue.