The Graceful Lips: Guard Your Heart Series

Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore, God hath blessed thee forever. (KJV) Psalms 45:2

He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of lips the king shall be his friend. (KJV) Proverbs 22:11

Preamble

I was in a gathering of Christian friends, youth leaders from across the Zones, Areas and Parishes for our monthly Provincial Youth Delegate Meeting. As the President of my local parish (RCCG, Jesus The Rock, Abeokuta) then, I met this lady who was also a Youth delegate. Everyone was talking and sharing experiences of personal nature. I listened aptly to some of them and I was quite impressed.

However, in a bid to impress, this particular lady started sharing experiences of how she did this and did that. She spoke confidently to a point that she said (using her words) “I’m a no-nonsense person. No one can talk to me anyhow. Who are they? Even the devil knows me.” And the next sentences coming out from her mouth were curses. Though she spoke in the local dialect (Yoruba), the interpretation of her words was “Their head is not correct, are they mad, do they know who she is? She is a no-nonsense person, etc.” and she was speaking so loudly and boldly. I concluded in my spirit that this lady was not born again. She was a deceiver, an impostor and an arrogant person. Her lips were so sharp and full of curses. How can a so-called child of God be so fluent in curses that it ran so smoothly in her mouth, so well structured?

Yes, ‘The Graceful Lips: Guard your heart’. That is exactly what I’m talking about. Imagine an unhealthy, unwholesomeness tongue of that little boy or girl around your environ. The mouth is full of abusive words. See the way it flows so smoothly as if there is a lubricant in the lips that makes curses and abuses easier to concoct. You see a small girl of age six cursing adults of twenty and above. I remember while in secondary school, I had this close friend that he was a talented jester and once you offend him, it is safer for you to run away, lest he makes you a laughing stock before everyone. He had a sweet mouth and the day I fell victim, I nearly cried my eyes out. That is to show how talented and gifted people are in making jest of someone else.

Some are great murmurers, gossipers, and blasphemers. They backbite their friends and colleagues. The lips that are meant to be full of grace and speak hope to the hearers have been so corrupted that out of it flows hammer, knifes, cutlass, dagger, bombs and poison.

In 1Timothy 1:18-20,

“This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightiest war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Another version said in verse 20,

“Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan in order that they may be disciplined (by punishment and learn) not to blaspheme.”

In 2 Timothy 2:15-17 added,

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus”

So many people utter unguarded words which lands them into trouble. The mouth is so powerful that it can start war among nations and countries. Blasphemies, heresies, wrong preaching, even wrong construction of tenses, may pull a man down and even his entire family or countries to the ground.

I remember an incident that happened in Nigeria some couple of years ago when a ranked man in uniform was interviewed on a Private Television Station and he kept saying, “My Oga at the top”. This generated a lot of discussions on the media.

I also read an online article about a woman who posted on her twitter handle that she hoped she would not contact AIDS if she went to Africa? This also generated a heated argument as the Africans did not take it lightly. It degenerated into a major issue of concern in international media such as CNN and BBC; just because of a wrong statement.

The tongue is so important that it can drive you to heaven or hell depending on how you use it. That is why God cherishes it greatly, as one of the first criteria into his kingdom and becoming the son of God is by using your tongue, lips/mouth. You use your mouth to confess that Jesus is Lord. “For confession is made unto salvation”, and if you do not confess with your mouth, then you are not yet saved. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. God said “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” – Matthew 18:18. And it is with the mouth you bind and loose. It is still the same word of God that says, “Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with you” – Isaiah 3:10.