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.
What you picture in your heart and the one who resides in your heart will be reflected in your speech and utterances. You will definitely be betrayed by your speech.
Peter’s betrayal of Jesus was a betrayal to his own person. His speech betrayed his betrayal or denial. The little girl said, “I perceived you were one of Jesus disciples for your speech betrays you” – Matthew 26:73. After spending so much time with Jesus, Peter spoke like Jesus, moved like Jesus, behaved like Jesus, sat like Jesus, did things like Jesus did and could not conceal this identity to mix with the crowd, though he tried. Just then, a little girl came to him and said, “Mr. Man, you look like that man called Jesus, you talk like him, in fact, you resemble him” (paraphrased).
My question to you is: “How do you speak that people will say, Uhm! You are a Christian. Only Christians talk like this?”
You cannot call yourself a Christian and you talk carelessly. Your communication should be seasoned and be full of grace. Your mouth should be designed to speak words that edify and encourage all the time.
Pastor Iyiola Tella of The Light House, Yola once said that, “as a lady, if a man talks with you for about five to ten minutes and there’s nothing that depicts God in his words or relate to godly things, stay away from such person.”
Paul said he handed over Hymenaeus and Alexander to the Devil to discipline them so that they can learn not to blaspheme.
Imagine! Even the devil has a role to play in helping you shape your mouth. If you refuse to change your unbridled tongue, the devil will help you do that. Do you abuse, curse, speak ill about someone, backbite and blaspheme, just be rest assured that your doom is coming suddenly if you do not change.
David was called a man after God’s heart. Why? His mouth was quick to ask for forgiveness and was also full of praises.
In 2nd Samuel 1:1-16, the man that came to meet David concerning Saul’s death received his judgment instantly. He thought he will get rewarded but when he opened his lips, David was angered that how will he do such and then have the effrontery to even come and tell him.
Another account found in Luke 23: 39-43, the two thieves hanged by the right and to the left of Jesus on the cross could have both been saved but just one of the two did the right thing. He opened his mouth and rebuked the other saying, “Don’t you fear God” and we know what happened afterwards. He got saved. Saying the right word at the right time is good. Jesus told him, “Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise”.
Another man we need to consider concerning this matter of saying the right words is King Saul. King Saul, having disobeyed God by not fully carrying out God’s instruction to the letter, was visited by Prophet Samuel and after the whole talk, what I expected from him was to immediately seek for mercy but hear what he said instead:
“Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God” - 1st Samuel 15:30
Can you imagine that with all said and done that the kingdom has been rent from his hand, I would have expected he straightway repent and go flat on his face, put on ashes as at old times, declare fast, begged God and do several things just like Hezekiah did when prophet Isaiah told him that he was going to die. Immediately Prophet Isaiah stepped out, Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to God. And of course, God asked the prophet to return to him within the same hour to tell him he has heard his voice (2 Kings 20:1-6).
I would have expected Saul to do same, but what did he do? He was seeking for self-glorification. He was still asking for honour before the elders and also the people. What honour did he still need? I presumed what God saw was, “this man having been told that I have rejected him, is still asking for honour before mere mortals? He must be proud, arrogant, and pompous and to cap it all, disobedient.”
The Bible also advised wives of ministers and women generally not to be gossipers, malicious talkers and slanderers. It is killing without sword. “Life and death lies in the power of the tongue,” Proverbs 18:21.
1st Timothy 4:16 also advise everyone to take heed to himself and to the doctrine. Even when you talk, preach and exhort, try to hear and listen to yourself for wrong statements, or self-glorifying words. Pay close attention to your life and teachings.
The account in Numbers 12:1 is one that shocked me to the marrow. Here, we had a prophetess of God and not only that, an elder sister to Moses named Miriam. She had sacrificed so much for Moses. She was responsible for what became of Moses by following him down the river until the daughter of Pharaoh saw him and she wisely spoke with her to allow her look for a woman that will take care of Moses for her. However, when she spoke against Moses because he married an Ethiopian woman, scriptures says in verse 10 and 15 that the Lord struck her with leprosy and she was shut out from among the people for seven days until her restoration. By Chapter 20, she finally died and did not enter the Promised Land. That is the grave danger in what the tongue or your lips can do.
Several experiences have shown that many young people, even adults do not give respect to those who have gone ahead of them. They enjoy speaking ill about them, saying they have not done much. They backbite, or probably do not correct those who speak ill of their leaders. Instead of praying for them, they either join them to concoct lies and support the downfall of their predecessors. This is totally unfair.
Back then in the Institution, I had a brother who became the fellowship president and he started acting proud. He started behaving totally strange to those ahead of him. He stopped giving due respect to those ahead of him. I felt totally enraged and in the presence of the executives back then, I had to correct that anomaly.
Scriptures says concerning David that “he was a man after his heart”. How and why was he a man after Gods heart? He loved God and never did anything to take revenge on King Saul.
David was anointed by Samuel, the same person that anointed Saul. He could afterwards have said, “Hey, Mr. Saul, you’re old fashion and your time is over. Leave the throne for me, you have been rejected. God is angry with you, common instructions you can’t keep. Your time is up and it’s now my time, let me also be king”. David did not do any of these. He submitted himself, worked for the same king as his body guard. How many people will do this having learnt that for example, the CEO has given you an appointment letter to be the General Manager of the company and yet, there still exists the General Manager occupying that same position and he’s not ready to leave? Will you still be running errands for him, serving him, protecting him, and fighting against his enemies knowing fully well that the man is occupying the post you have been given letter of appointment to? That was what David did. Even when it was obvious that King Saul wanted to kill him and he was running from pillar to post to save his life, when David had the opportunity of killing King Saul, he said to himself, “how can I do this thing and touch the Lord’s anointed?”
Any man anointed by God is to be feared even if God has rejected him. It is not your business to bring such person down. Let God finish the work himself and allow things play out according to God’s plan. When it is God’s time, he will do what he needs to be done. David had to wait for years before he was finally enthroned. In fact, when a young lad came to tell him that he was the one that killed Saul, assuming that David would be glad and reward him for killing his enemy, David was angered and asked him, “Are you not afraid to lay your hand on the Lord’s anointed?” And of course, he was also killed. His mouth betrayed him and landed him in death.
Having talked much about the power of our lips, we need to take a closer look at this again. The lips do not just speak vilely of their own accord. There is a source of those uncouth, foulmouthed and vulgar words.
In Luke 6:45 says:
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”
The Heart! Yes, it shows the condition of a person. The heart is the factory house of every word that proceeds out of the lips. Every heart is corrupt. “For the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it” – Jeremiah 17:9.
But wait a little. Does that mean every heart of man including the so-called Christians too is wicked? No.
God has cleansed our heart and made it pure. Proverbs 23:26 declares “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways”. When you surrender your heart to God, you will receive bountiful reward.
According to Proverbs 22:11, it says “He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend”. Did you see that?
i. A Clean Heart
ii. A graceful Lips
Both will make you a friend to a king and same with the King of kings. But if your heart is dirty and you have a disgraceful lips, your place is not far-fetched – an enemy of the king.
Which will you prefer - A Friend or an Enemy? The choice is yours. Choose which you desire but know of a certainty that only a clean heart and graceful lips can befriend the king and there are lots of benefits therein. Be wise.
