Is your ship driven by the wind?

                                               Is your ship driven by the wind? 

       James 3:4 states, “Behold also the ships, which though they be great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.”

       When I visited my son-in-law Mark Mander and his wife Deanna, my oldest daughter, I walked by the sea shore in Northern Ireland in the early morning.  The waves were crashing against the sea wall as they sent the sea spray high into the air.  Although it was an awesome sight, I was very glad that I was on dry land rather than in a boat that morning.

       James 3:4 reminds us that ships, although driven in one direction by the wind, are easily turned around by a very small rudder.  A horse may also be turned to the left or right by a tug on the bit in his mouth.  It is odd that you can turn a ship or a powerful horse completely around at the will of the one in control, but sometimes Christian musicians override the gentle checks of the Holy Spirit when he nudges the musician to keep him or her out of trouble.

       If we can easily turn a ship around in fierce winds and huge waves, the Christian musician should be able, with the ‘tugs” of the Holy Spirit, to control what he or she says.  This Scripture clearly teaches that the musician needs the Lord’s help in governing his or her life.

       Verse seventeen states, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”  Wow! Ouch!  Verse five warns, “Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.”

       Every time in my life that I have had the good sense to keep my mouth shut, I have been glad later.  There are four words that I have learned over the years that have helped me.  They are, “It just doesn’t matter.”  In the light of what words do to relationships, most things really do not matter as much as we think they do when the waves of adversity and disagreement are blowing. What we need to do in these times is let the blessed Holy Spirit be our rudder to help us stay out of “foot in mouth disease”.