Breakfast in the Everett household starts off pretty normally. Most of us have Weetbix with milk and yoghurt. But then things start to get a bit strange when the toaster comes out. For some strange reason, some of my boys have developed a taste for some strange combinations. Freenut Butter (think Peanut Butter without the peanuts – yes we have allergy issues), Vegemite and Honey on Raisin Toast is the strangest combination. Sometimes Golden Syrup is added just for variety. This is one time when Daddy is not prepared to finish off the leftovers. In my mind Freenut Butter, Vegemite and Honey just do not go together. But no matter how hard I try to convince my boys, they still go for it.

In James 3:9-10 we are told of another strange combination of things that don’t go together, and yet we often put them together. Check it out:

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”

It sounds so logical. It makes so much sense. Praising God and cursing God’s key creation (us) at the same time does not go together. And yet, I find myself doing it all the time. I can tell others how good God is, and then bag out someone in the next sentence. I can sing praises to God during church and then pay out someone after church.

What is the solution? I need to keep seeing other people as God sees them; His image bearers. I need to see myself as an image bearer and act in a way that is consistent with God’s character. I need to keep remembering that to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbour as yourself, are two sides of the one coin. And I need to pray for wisdom (remembering James 1:5) when I find it difficult to do the above.

So every time my sons wrap their tongues around Freenut Butter, Vegemite and Honey Raisin Toast, I will try to think about how I will use my tongue that day. Thanks boys for this strange combination.