He was correct. We can control much of the world around us but we cannot seem to bridle the tongue. Many Christian people came to gain a degree of mastery over their bodies. That nevertheless, is relatively easy compared to gaining mastery over the tongue. Few are those who grow by God's grace to the place where they can keep their tongue bridled.
Nothing tears apart a family or a church like out of control language.
The story of White Fang is a good one because the killer wolf does become tame, and becomes extremely valuable to his new master. In like manner we become valuable to our divine Master when we learn to bridle our tongues. May God grant us mercy in this realm of holiness. In the previous verse James has already told us that there are two kinds of religion. There is pure religion and there is counterfeit religion.