Out of the Heart the Mouth Speaks

“Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.” (Proverbs 4:24).
Once we become followers of Christ, there will be many aspects of our lives that need to be cleansed. Old habits have to be abandoned and mental strong holds that we have built for years have to be torn down. Many of these negative areas are miraculously demolished at the moment of our new birth; but other quirks in our personality are still frustratingly apparent (often to others as well as us). When I surrendered my life to the Lord, certain shackles and strongholds in my life were immediately broken, while in others areas I continued to struggle. One of the most obvious areas in need of transformation was my temper. I had possessed an out-of-control temper since I was a child. It took several years of constant work by the Holy Spirit before transformation occurred in this aspect of my life. One area I see many Christian men struggle with is the mouth. We are to put away a froward (contrary; ornery; stubborn) mouth, and perverse (corrupt; degenerate; wicked) lips put far from thee. “The mouth of fools poureth out foolishness” (Proverbs 15:2). We have a responsibility to control our mouth. When our heart is not right with the Lord and our spiritual life is stagnant, our mouth is the first to give us away. Our speech becomes peppered with complaints, bitterness, murmurings, resentment, pride, contempt and anger. Godly men, we must keep our mouths in constant check and allow the Holy Spirit to tame our tongue.