Thursday, August 23, 2007
James 1:19-21 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
QUICK TO LISTEN . . . SLOW TO TALK
I have a bad habit of cutting people off when they are trying to talk. I'm not very quick to hear and am all too quick to shoot off my mouth, to show my "German" temper. I need to work on being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Is it just me? Shouldn't we all be courteous in conversation? Folks shouldn't have to fight to fit a word in edgewise.
But notice that our text clarifies what kind of listening is meant in the following words: ". . . receive with meekness the implanted Word." James is talking about listening to God when He speaks in His Word.
As Christian men, women, and children, we are to be quick to listen -- especially when God speaks. We are never to tire of hearing the Word (even when we've heard it over and over). We show signs of forgetting who we are as Christians if we grumble when presented with an opportunity to listen to His Word. We show signs that we are forgetting who we are as Christians when we begin to question or doubt that Word.
We are to be slow to speak, because when people are talking, they aren't listening. We are to be slow to anger, because when people are angry, they don't conduct themselves in a way that is right in God's sight.
God help us to be silent and attentive, especially when He speaks. God help us to receive the Word that has already been planted in our hearts by faith -- with meekness, without backtalk, disputing, or doubting. After all, the Word has the power to save our souls.
We have been made God's children, members of His family through faith in Christ. He is our loving Father who gave up His Son to make us his own! For our spiritual and eternal good He has given us His Word in which He reveals His will. He would there strengthen our confidence in Him and His Promises.
He has not given us the jewel that is His Word so that we pack it away in a closet, but so that we might use it and listen to it, and learn from it -- learn that we are saved by God's grace alone.
