Decide not to allow your mouth to sin

Psalm 17:3d (NLV)

I have decided that my mouth will not sin.

Ecclesiastes 5:6a (NLV)

Do not let your mouth cause you to sin.

If you take a vow to watch your mouth and not allow it to sin, have you considered how very difficult such a vow will be to meet?  Are you aware of all the kinds of sins produced with/from the mouth?  How does your mouth sin?  Well, what immediately comes to mind are verbal sins such as cursing, gossiping, and complaining.  Think further, there are more verbal sins than these.  Also, with our mouths we also eat too much (gluttony) and drink too much (drunkenness).   To decide that your mouth will not sin involves both what you say and what/how you eat and drink.  What a huge challenge to take a vow that you will not allow your mouth to sin, but also what a wonderful blessing for your life if you do control what you say and what you eat and drink. 

Let’s start with what you eat and drink.  Christians are aware of the sin of drunkenness (Eph 5:18), but ignore or tolerate the sin of gluttony.  It has always bothered me to see a man or woman of God, very devout people who also are very fat.  Being fat and being devout don’t mix.  Famous pastor, Rick Warren, realized that he and many of his parishioners were overweight and introduced a weight loss program called “The Daniel Plan”.  Proverbs 23:20-21 says that “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.”  Proverbs 23:3 proclaims, “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.”  To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit that includes self-control (Gal 5:22-23) and self-control involves controlling how much you eat and drink. 

Let’s now focus on what you say.  When you make a vow that you are no longer going to allow your spoken words to cause you to sin, what are you going to stop doing?

1.  No more profanity or calling people names (James 3:9-10, Rom 3:13-14, II Cor 12:30, Eph 4:29, Eph 5:4, Col 3:8)

2.  No more gossiping, backbiting, ridiculing, slandering, lying (Psalm 50:16-22, Prov 12:18, Prov 25:18, 23, I Tim 5:13, I Peter 4:15).  Lying includes flattery (Psalm 5:9)

3.  No more grumbling or complaining (Phil 2:14, Jude 1:16)

4.  No more boasting/prideful talking (Psalm 12:3-4, Prov 27:2, James 4:16)

5.  No more talking too much (Eccles 5:2-3, Prov 13:3, Prov 18:3, James 1:19)

Do you realize that sins of the mouth/tongue negate any claim you make about your Christian faith (James 1:26)?  If Jesus is not the Lord of your tongue, He is not Lord of your life.  To commit routinely these kinds of sins of the mouth and then call yourself a Christian is also calling you a hypocrite.  These sins of the mouth not only ruin your reputation as a Christian but also produce a lot of trouble (Prov 21:23) and are judged by God to be as bad as murder (Matt 5:20-21). 

No matter how sincere you are in making a vow to watch your mouth and refrain from sin, you will slip from time to time.  However, you can confess your sins and ask God to help you be careful in what you say (Psalm 19:14).  Remember these very stunning, perhaps dreadful, words of Christ--“And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.” (Matt 12:36).   Thus, from an eternal perspective, other than your decision about salvation, to decide that your mouth will no longer be an instrument of sin might be the second most important decision of your life.  With the Lord’s help and exerting extra personal discipline, you can do it.