Psalm 45:1 “…my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.”

Several years ago I was in Toronto, Canada. My next stop was Detroit, Michigan. The cheapest way to travel there was by coach. The bus depot in Toronto where I had to get my ticket was in an area called Chinatown.  So, there I was, thousands of miles from home, in a completely foreign environment, standing in one of ten lines waiting to buy my ticket.  Imagine my complete surprise when upon asking for my ticket a clerk behind the counter suddenly lifted his head, and with a big grin on his face, said to me, “Do you know where Wilson’s Row in Ballyclare is?”  Not only had this ex-pat recognised I was from Northern Ireland, but amazingly and accurately pinpointed my very home town!    Even though I hadn’t lived in that town for years, part of it still lived in me.  As soon as I opened my mouth it came out. My lips betrayed me. 

Yes, it’s true, our accents give us away. But a greater truth is that our lips betray us. The Bible says in Luke 6:45 “…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” In other words, whatever your heart is full of, it will spill out over your lips. If it’s full of anger, bitterness, envy or worry, guess what what’s going to come out then? If it’s filled with love, thankfulness, hope and faith, then your lips will express that.  When you go to a doctor complaining of a tummy problem, he may ask you to stick your tongue out. Your tongue is a good indicator of what’s going on in your stomach. Likewise, your lips are a give-away for what’s going on in your heart. 

John Newton, who wrote that most famous hymn, Amazing Grace, was by his own account a foul-mouthed blasphemous man, who would have made a sailor blush. No matter how hard he tried, his lips betrayed his heart. Then one day he experienced the truly amazing grace of Jesus Christ. His heart was totally transformed. And now, from the abundance of his cleansed heart he began to speak in an entirely new way. 

Colonel Harland Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, was similar to Newton. He too, by his own admission, was foul mouthed. Then He also met Christ and received Him as his Lord and Saviour. From then on, he had a whole new vocabulary.  Psalm 45:1 “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” Be careful, what is in your heart will come out of your mouth!

- Pastor David Goudy