3Don't be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards.G3450G80G1096G3361G4183G1320G1492G3754G2983G3187G29172And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.G1063G4183G4417G537G1536G4417G3756G1722G3056G3778G5046G435G1415G2532G5468G3650G49833A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse.G2400G906G5469G1519G2462G4750G4314G846G3982G2254G2532G3329G846G3650G49834A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds.G2400G2532G4143G5607G5082G2532G1643G5259G4642G417G3329G5259G1646G4079G3699G302G2116G3730G10145A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire.G2532G3779G1100G2076G3398G3196G2532G3166G2400G2245G5208G3641G4442G3816A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.G2532G1100G4442G2889G93G3779G2525G1100G1722G2257G3196G4695G3650G4983G2532G5394G5164G1078G2532G5394G5259G10677This is scary: You can tame a tiger,G1063G3956G5449G2342G5037G2532G4071G5037G2062G2532G1724G1150G2532G1150G5449G4428but you can't tame a tongue—it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer.G1161G1100G1410G3762G444G1150G183G2556G3324G2287G24479With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image.G1722G846G2127G2316G2532G3962G2532G1722G846G2672G444G3588G1096G2596G3669G231610Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can't go on.G1537G846G4750G1831G2129G2532G2671G3450G80G5023G5534G3756G3779G109611A spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it?G3385G4077G1032G1537G846G3692G1099G2532G408912Apple trees don't bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?G3361G1410G4808G3450G80G4160G1636G2228G288G4810G3779G3762G4077G4160G252G5204G2532G1099
Live Well, Live Wisely
13Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.G5101G4680G2532G1990G1722G5213G1166G1537G2570G391G846G2041G1722G4240G467814Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom.G1161G1487G2192G4089G2205G2532G2052G1722G5216G2588G2620G3361G2532G5574G2596G22515It's the furthest thing from wisdom—it's animal cunning, devilish conniving.G3778G4678G2076G2718G3756G509G235G1919G5591G114116Whenever you're trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats.G1063G3699G2205G2532G2052G1563G181G2532G3956G5337G422917Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced.G1161G4678G509G2076G4412G3303G53G1899G1516G1933G2138G3324G1656G2532G18G2590G87G2532G50518You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.G1161G2590G1343G4687G1722G1515G4160G1515