Read with Me
James 1:19-20 (HCSB)
My dearly loved brothers, understand this: Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.
Listen with Me
James’ advice is as timely today as the day he wrote it 2000 years ago, as is apparent to anyone who reads it honestly. Today, many people invert these. They are slow to listen if they bother to listen at all. And they are quick to speak and quick to grow angry and to display their anger. Indeed, many people walk through their days primed and ready to explode at the slightest provocation.
But followers of Jesus must be quick to listen, because it is only through really listening, really making the time to be still and receptive that we can truly know God’s will and receive his direction each moment. And listening is also the only way to really find out what is in the hearts of those we are speaking to. Without carefully listening, assumptions rule the day, errors are made, and animosity is fanned.
Jesus himself was slow to speak. In fact, He never said anything or did anything in on His own but waited until He had heard clearly from God (John 5:19). That was why, when faced with the woman caught in adultery, He didn’t speak right away or answer Her accusers. He just squatted down and wrote in the dust with his finger (John 8:1-10). Then, when He heard how He was to answer, He stood, delivered God’s message, then went back to His writing in the dirt.
He was also slow to anger. When He was denied hospitality by a Samaritan village on his way to Jerusalem, James and John wanted to call fire from heaven to incinerate the whole population (Luke 9: 51-56). But Jesus squashed that idea immediately, and simply moved on to the next village. He realized that even though those Samaritans didn’t believe in Him yet, some of them would in the future. And He wasn’t willing to call down God’s wrath on those who would later turn to Him.
Pray with me
Father, you are right when you point out how our modern society inverts these principles to the harm of both ourselves and our society. Even in the Church, many of us speak too quickly without listening and really hearing first, and then become angry or resentful, making our own agenda and our own feelings of higher value than Yours, to the harm of the whole Church and Your kingdom agenda. Help us to not only hear these words, Lord, but to put them into practice immediately in our own lives (James 1:22-25, Matthew 7:24- 27). Amen.