Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips (Proverbs 4:24).

Our mouths and our hearts are a lot more connected than we often like to admit.  All too often, I've blurted out some stupid statement -- in personal conversation, in sending out an e-mail, in updating my Facebook status, or in a post on my blog -- and I've been embarrassed by what it reveals about the stuff that's actually going on inside of me.  I can try to retract my statements, saying that they weren't fully thought through or that I was only joking around and couldn't possibly mean what I said -- but others who overhear stuff like that are not stupid.  They know that my words are connected with my thoughts, at least at some level.  When my heart seeps out into my words, it's not always a pretty situation.

But I think it's interesting to consider that the inverse is also true.  When my words seep into my heart, it's also an equally unpleasant situation.  When my mouth is plagued by perversity and my lips are beseiged with corrupt talk, it really does have an effect on my inmost being.  I may start off thinking that I'm just "paying lip-service" to some particular issue, but over time it really does become integrated with the deeper parts of me.  Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under Adolf Hitler, once said, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."  And even though history shows that Goebbels was a vicious, hateful, Nazi war criminal, the daily patterns of our lives show that this one particular statement of his, at least, was right on the money.  Not only do our hearts seep into our mouths; our mouths also regularly seep into our hearts.  This, of course, is why Proverbs 4:24 is positioned immediately following Proverbs 4:23, which says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."  Part of guarding my heart is guarding my mouth.  And part of guarding my mouth is guarding my heart.

In its full context, Proverbs 4:20-27 reads, "My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."  Amen, I say.  Amen.