Are You Starting Wildfires?
When I was about nine years old, I remember a Sunday afternoon that took a sharp turn from ordinary to unforgettable. We had laid down for a nap after church, the kind of quiet, slow afternoon you expect to drift by without much happening. Then we were jolted awake by a phone call from our neighbor worried about the smoke he was seeing across the field. We stepped outside and saw it immediately. The woods between our house and my grandparents’ house were on fire, and the wind was pushing the flames straight toward us.
My parents called 911, and without much discussion, we grabbed the garden hoses and started spraying water, hoping to slow the fire’s progress. I filled up my Super Soaker over and over again, convinced I was doing my part, maybe even thinking I was the best firefighter on the scene. Eventually, the fire department arrived and took control of the situation, but that was not the Sunday afternoon we expected.
What makes it even more memorable is that we had church directory pictures scheduled that evening. We cleaned up, got dressed, and made it there on time. The result was a photo that probably captured a family still running on adrenaline and smoke. I think most of those copies have thankfully been destroyed disappeared. Now every time I smell smoke from a unknown fire, my mind goes back to that day. And with wildfires burning near our area right now, that memory has been close at hand. My prayers are with those who are dealing with real loss and real danger right now.
But when I smelled that smoke last night, my mind didn’t just go back to that afternoon. It went to Scripture to the warning in the Book of James about the tongue. James 3:5 says, “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!“
A Spark That Becomes a Wildfire
James tells us plainly that the tongue is not just capable of starting a fire, but that it is one. A restless evil, full of deadly poison, able to set on fire the entire course of life. That feels extreme until you have watched relationships burn to the ground over a few careless sentences. Trust reduced to ash because someone “just said what they thought.” Rumors move faster than truth and do more damage than anyone intended. The tongue rarely feels dangerous in the moment, but neither does a spark before it catches.
What makes this even more sobering is how small it all begins. A comment made in passing. A frustration vented at the wrong time. A joke that cuts deeper than we admit. A private conversation that should have stayed private. We tend to think of destructive speech as the loud, explosive kind, but most fires do not start that way. They start quietly. They smolder. They spread underneath the surface before anyone notices the damage. By the time the flames are visible, it is already too late to pretend it was harmless.
The Wisdom of Saying Less
This danger is even more present today in a world that encourages constant expression. Say what you feel. Speak your truth. Get it off your chest. Silence is often treated like weakness, or worse, like dishonesty. But Scripture paints a very different picture. There is an elegant wisdom that is not found in saying more, but in saying less. There is a godliness in knowing when not to speak. The absence of words can be obedience.
The spiritual discipline of silence is something deeper than personality or preference. It’s not the kind of silence that avoids responsibility or refuses to speak truth when needed, but the kind that refuses to speak unnecessarily. This is the habit of slowing down before we open our mouths. We ask, “Is this true? Is this helpful? Is this mine to say?” before releasing words that cannot be taken back.
There is a humility in silence. It acknowledges that not every thought deserves to be heard. Not every opinion needs to be shared. Not every situation requires our commentary. Especially when we feel right or when we feel like we have been wronged, this runs against the grain of our instincts and our modern social media fueled world. But wisdom often looks like restraint in the very moments we feel most justified to speak.
Silence forces us to sit with what we are feeling instead of immediately projecting it onto others. It exposes how often we speak to relieve our own pressure rather than to build someone else up. It reveals how much of our speech is reaction rather than intention. And over time, it begins to retrain the heart. Because the goal is not just fewer words, but better ones. Words that heal instead of harm. Words that are measured, thoughtful, and timely.
The Tongue That Burns… and Brings Life
Because that is the paradox. The same tongue that can start fires is also the instrument God uses to bring life. With it we bless our Lord and Father. With it we speak truth, encouragement, and the hope of the gospel. The goal is not to silence the tongue forever, but to surrender it. Because left to ourselves, our words will tend toward destruction. We will justify, exaggerate, defend, and wound. But when we walk by the Spirit, when we submit even our speech to Christ, something begins to change. We are given not only the right words to say, but the wisdom to know when to stay silent.
There is a reason communities issue burn bans when conditions are dry and the winds are high. It is not because fire is always bad, but because the conditions make even a small spark too dangerous to risk. What might be safe in one season becomes destructive in another. Wisdom recognizes the moment and chooses restraint. Watching a wildfire reminds you how little control you have once things are set in motion. The time to act is not when the flames are raging, but before the spark ever lands. Maybe we need to think about our words the same way.
There are seasons where our hearts are dry, our emotions are stirred, and the winds around us are strong. In those moments, it is not the time to test our ability to speak carefully. It is the time to hold our tongue. To wait. To pray. To let the Spirit settle what is restless inside of us. Because the same mouth that can bring warmth and life can also burn everything down if we are not paying attention. And sometimes, the wisest, most Spirit-filled thing we can do is honor the burn ban and simply say nothing at all.
So maybe the question is not just whether our words are true, but whether they are necessary. Not just whether we can say something, but whether we should. Because once it leaves our mouth, it does not belong to us anymore. And like a fire, it will go somewhere.