Slow to Speak and Slow to Become Angry

As advice, the admonition to be slow to speak and slow to become angry is so obvious that it seems trite. Who needs to be reminded that talking too much and getting mad are not things that help us along relationship paths, career paths, any paths . . . other than the path to the Jerry Springer show? Yet, if you are like me, following James’ advice a little more closely would sure save a lot of headaches and heartaches. Thankfully most of our lives are not normally ruled by tension and problems . . . but to whatever extent they are, most of us can quickly attribute many of the tensions and problems to our (or someone else’s) tendency to speak too much or get mad about something.

So the obvious “take away” from James’ advice is to speak less and listen more. We should all just shut up and listen. (That’s tough for a preacher!) Yet James doesn’t leave it at that because he then warns that listeners are not any more noble than talkers if their listening does not result in some sort of action. “Don’t just listen to the word,” James says, or you become like a person who looks in a mirror and does not care enough to comb his hair.

Perhaps more than nice and very practical advice about our listening skills and our anger management, James seeks to make sure that we get the fact that the “Word” is what we should listen to and take action about. Not our word or words. But his Word. He spoke a Word of flesh and blood that lived and died. Lived and died just to be heard. Will we listen?


Mark