Be Quick To Listen

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:19-20 NIV

I can’t help but wonder if God gave us two ears and just one mouth because he wanted us to listen twice as much as we speak. There’s probably a hundred reasons to choose listening over speaking, but here are just a few:

1. Listening shows others that we believe they have value and whatever idea or thought they are expressing is worthy of our time and consideration. It requires that we take our attention off ourselves and place it on the one who is speaking. Our relationships with family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances grow stronger when we are quick to listen.
2. We learn a lot more when we listen, than when we speak. It gives us the chance to develop understanding and gain insight, to enlarge our perspective and to form new ideas.
3. Listening protects us from speaking too quickly, without thinking first, it buys us time to process before responding. If our first reaction is to speak we easily get ourselves into a lot of trouble. Proverbs 17:28, puts it this way, “Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.” (NIV)

James gives us the number one reason we need to be slow to anger, it simply does not produce the righteousness God desires. Anger is a very powerful emotion! It clouds our thinking and can drive us to do things that we otherwise wouldn’t choose to do. Anger keeps us from asking the right questions. What does God want me to do in this situation? How can my reaction demonstrate God’s character? When we’re angry, we usually aren’t thinking about God at all, but rather ourselves. We are focused on our rights, and we want to be sure that we are not being taken advantage of.  Psalm 37:8 tells us, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret–it leads only to evil.” (NIV)  So not only does anger hinder righteousness, it can actually lead us to evil!

King Solomon put it this way, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.” Proverbs 16:32 (NAS) So how can we effectively slow down anger and keep it from becoming so intense it leads us to make poor decisions? The key is to put the breaks on as soon as we feel it rising up within us. Recognize it as soon as it appears and redirect our thought patterns immediately. Focus our minds on God and ask ourselves the right questions? Start with this one. Does this make me feel angry because it hinders the work of God and defames His name or is this simply about me? Do I have an opportunity in this situation to react in such a way as to demonstrate God’s patience, forgiveness or love? Most importantly, pray immediately and ask God to give you the right perspective. Ask Him to guard your heart from anger and enable you to respond in a way that honors Him.  He will hear your prayer and He will help you.