During my orientation camp program in NYSC, we had a room mate in camp who was a parrot. Whenever we are in the room to rest from the day's activities, he will start a discussion that will make the whole room noisy. Argument was his stock-in-trade then he added some boasting.

He started a discussion on how Polytechnic graduates are better than University graduates. Being an HND holder, he talked down on university graduates in the room. In one of the camp competitions, his platoon chose him to represent for quiz. They asked him a very simple question during the quiz and he looked lost. He was disgraced that day and shame shut his mouth in the room afterwards.

Another common pitfall of excessive talking is boasting. Boasting is an offshoot of unguarded mouth and unrestrained desire to impress others about one's abilities and achievements.

In fact, it is one of the signs of the last days. Paul says, "For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be BOASTFUL and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred" ( 2 Tim 3:2).

When you talk too much, you will not know when you'll start praise singing yourself and looking down on others. This is not only common to artists and celebrities as we think. A preacher can be boastful without knowing.

When the focus of a preacher's message is no longer on Christ but on other things, boasting will set in. When your emphasis is on the things of this world instead of eternal things, boasting is not far from you. From the emphasis of a preacher, we can discern where his heart is.

Proverbs warns against this: “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips” (27:2).

Boasting is fueled by deep seated pride. Pride is a subtle killer of greatness, we must be careful about it. Lucifer fell from heaven because of pride mixed with rebellion. Let's take caution.