Quick to Listen...

19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to
listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does
not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, get
rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly
accept the word planted in you, which can save you. James 1:19-21.

I volunteered for this passage because it has become very evident in
the past few weeks how relevant these verses are in my life. The need
for this truth to be accepted and practiced is great.

A couple weeks ago I walked into my bedroom ready to crash and sleep
for as long as the little man would let me. My husband was standing by
my dresser studying one of the many pictures that desperately need to
be dusted. He picked up the picture, taken eight years ago, of the two
of us sitting on a bench looking every bit as young as we were. I
asked him what he was doing and he paused, looked up at me and said,
“I was just thinking about how weird it is that if I saw the girl in
this picture walking toward me in the mall I wouldn’t know who she
was.”

Now, before I got married, my sister gave me some advice. She said that
James 1:19 was the most important verse for a happy marriage. She told
me to remember that often what we hear and what the other person is
really saying are not the same thing. I don’t often remember this
advice in time, but because of God’s grace at this time, I did. Instead
of ripping his head off and throwing it out the window, I sat down
slowly and looked at him, waiting for him to hear what he had just said,
and hoping there would be some explanation.

He continued by telling me he had been standing there looking at all
the pictures of us, starting as young teenagers in high school and
moving through college, our wedding and then of our new little family
complete with dog and child, and he couldn’t believe what a blessing
it was to have such an amazing history with the person he was going to
spend his life with.

My sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen,
slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

How different his thoughts were from where my mind had jumped when he
first started what he was saying. And I couldn’t help thinking how
much we miss in relationships because it is so easy to be SLOW to
listen and QUICK to speak. It’s a dangerous place to be.

For man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

I have been thinking a lot about man’s anger. Where does my anger come
from? Nine times out of ten it is pride. My rights have been disturbed
or I feel misunderstood or overlooked. The point is my anger comes
from the moral filth and sin that is so prevalent in my life. I’m
either fighting my own battles that don’t need to be fought, or I’m

taking up the offenses of others and calling it righteousness.


I’ve taken to asking myself when I feel the anger boiling up inside,
“why am I angry?” There IS such a thing as righteous anger. But so far,
since starting this little exercise in growth, it has always been man’s

anger. The result of giving in to that anger is not life, it is

death.

“He chose to give us birth through the word of truth” The hope here
is that Word he planted in us. It is there, it was planted in us the
day we took our first steps as God’s children. But like a seed that
has to have time to grow, the word does not turn into the mature
finished product it’s going to be overnight. It takes time.

These three little verses have been so convicting to me but freeing at
the same time. Yes there is stuff to clean up in my life, but the Word
has been planted. And as I accept it, as I look to the Lord for the
patience to listen quickly and speak slowly, I will taste the delicious
fruit of all He has created in my life.

Questions:

1. What makes you angry?

2. How do you personally deal with anger? What does it do to your life?

3. How do we go about ridding ourselves of moral filth and the evil that is
so prevalent? Is that something that we are even doing or is God
doing it? Also what does “humbly accepting the word planted in us”
look like?