Garbage

“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” –James 3:6

When we read the word ‘hell,’ we immediately think of Satan and demons, or at least, pitchforks and flames. However, this isn’t quite what the Jewish people would have had in mind. The word for ‘hell’ is actually gehenna, which referred to the Valley of Hinnom. In the Old Testament, this valley was a place where there was a great amount of idolatry, until King Josiah instituted reforms. So, the Valley of Hinnom was viewed as a defiled place, and eventually became a garbage dump. They brought everything from trash to dead animals and criminals to be burnt there. In the days of Jesus, the fire would have burnt non stop. The stench would have been unbearable.

When James says that our tongues are set on fire by gehenna, it refers to the impurity of this world, or maybe you could say the ‘trash of this world.’ So, what is the ‘trash of this world’ that affects our tongues and our hearts? Well, whenever I would watch wrestling or some other questionable program on TV, my mom would always tell me to “Turn that trash off.” I suppose if we evaluate our TV watching, we can see how violence, foul language, and sexual immorality negatively affect our lives. Often we don’t even notice it is happening. We can’t just limit this to TV either. There are so many other forms of media out there that form us. Whether it is the music we listen to or the books we read, they all affect us in some way. We can have bad personal influences as well. We all have coworkers, friends, or family that tend to bring us to a place we shouldn’t be.

If you know me well enough, you know that I am not an advocate of total isolation from the world. But, here’s the question: do you recognize the trash that corrupts you? Are you able to sort out what is good and what is harmful? This is why we must continue to allow Scripture to mold us in every way. When we take every thought captive for Christ, we can see what is helpful and what is harmful. Then we must ‘take out the trash’ and let God mold us into his image.

What trash is stinking up your life right now?