"How often misused words generate misleading thoughts," a minister said as he began his sermon. Ministers try very hard to be understood, but probably all have experienced questions that show their words were completely misunderstood.

Misused words can be words whose meanings are not precise enough to convey a thought properly. Misleading thoughts are the result of the hearer "guessing" what the full meaning was.

Communication between two minds that are full of different experiences and that have a slightly different grasp of language is fraught with danger. Sometimes we catch ourselves expressing a thought wrongly or incompletely, but all too often we hurry on as though nothing happened.

James addresses this problem in chapter 3 of his epistle. He says the tongue is hard to tame, and we know that the untamed tongue leads to gossip, slander, angry words or even lies. But James also said, "My brethren, these things ought not to be so" (James 3:10). God offers us help to use our words properly, if we make the effort.