In recent news, we have seen the devastating fires in southern California. I know nothing about forestry, but I understand that two things were needed for this destruction to occur. One was a fire source. From what I’ve heard, various people purposely set the fires, which, though very small, were how the huge, devastating fires began.

But something else was needed to create the worst wildfires in southern California’s history. The fires needed fuel, and there was a lot of fuel to feed those tiny fires. The hillsides were full of dry underbrush. Very high winds also fed the fires, causing them to spread rapidly, destroying everything in their paths. We have all seen the pictures of entire neighborhoods quickly turned to ash.

The lesson is clear: When we combine fire and fuel, bad things happen.

James discusses a destructive fire. Its source is small as well. The source of that fire is our tongues. He writes: “See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature” (Jas 3:5-6).

James is talking to believers, and he says our tongues can be like the small fires that set in motion what we see in southern California. Our tongues can set everything around us on fire. We set those fires when we speak ill of our fellow believers.

But what is the fuel that feeds the fires started by our tongues? Our tongues are so small and seem so insignificant.

If these small fires are going to cause the damage James describes, there must be some kind of fuel. Solomon graphically describes the fuel that feeds the fire that begins with our tongues.

In Prov 26:20-21, he writes:

Where there is no wood, the fire goes out;
And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases.
As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire,
So is a contentious man to kindle strife.

Solomon agrees with James. The “talebearer” is a gossip. He stirs up strife. A “contentious man” is argumentative. When the talebearer goes around slandering others, it’s like leaving dry underbrush in his wake. The argumentative person does the same thing. As he encourages fighting among others, it’s like throwing wood on a fire.

It seems to me that much of this fuel is preparatory. The gossip and the contentious man walk among others while there is relative peace. They spread their whisperings and innuendos. Then something happens, and they take advantage of the situation. They light the fire with their tongues. They remind others of what they said earlier. This is like dry underbrush on fire amidst high winds. When the fire they started is raging, they continue to feed it by throwing in more logs with their words.

The picture that both Solomon and James paint is clear enough. And they are not talking about unbelievers only. Believers can be sources of destruction in the church. With our words, we can cause unnecessary arguments. We can talk about others behind their backs. We can betray confidences. When we do so, we are spreading fuel for a fire. At an opportune time, the talebearer and the gossip discover something that will set it all ablaze.

Solomon and James are telling us to be careful about what we say, even during times of harmony when things are going well. Careless words can become fuel for a future catastrophic fire. We can then light the conflagration that will destroy everything around us.

Some would argue that Solomon and James are exaggerating. But it is not an exaggeration to compare this situation to the fires we see on TV. How many churches have been destroyed by verbal fire and fuel? How many individual Christians have been defeated and have dishonored the Lord in this way? What impact will such fuel-fed fires have in eternity?

Just this week, a friend told me about an elderly neighbor whose husband died last week. My friend asked her about her faith. This neighbor said she used to go to church and even led Bible studies. But then, many hateful things were said about her by others in the church, and she has not been able to go back.

In California, the destruction needed a fire from one source and fuel from another. Here is a difference between that and what Solomon and James describe: Our tongues can be both the source of the fire and the fuel that feeds it. We can provide both. It is a sobering thought. We need to be careful of the things we say.