Don’t Mess It Up!

James 1:19-20

“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.”

Do you know that our relationship would have been so good, and our world better, if only we care to listen first? Listening is very important in any phase of life. It could change a lot of things if we give our ears first than our mouths. Note the adjective that James used in that passage; he says ‘quick’ to listen, ‘slow’ to anger, and ‘slow’ to become angry. But unfortunately, it is the other way round to most of us. We are slow to listen because we believe we are always right, we are quick to speak because we feel we are eloquent and must be heard, and we are quick to become angry because our emotions control us, instead we control it.

James is admonishing us as Christians to pay attention, listen more, and be attentive because in listening, we gain knowledge, wisdom, peace, and understanding. It's easy to destroy one another or kill friendship with negative words that we do not weigh before we speak, particularly when we are angry or frustrated. A lot of us have said unkind words, which break another person’s heart or has murdered an individual, leaving a mark that can never be erased. We have negatively affected a relationship that would have been exciting and lovely because we are eager to speak and get angry without listening to the other person, thereby we condemn and judge. We refuse to slow down neither be calm and most of the time, we do not think before we speak.

Listen to this! James did not say you shouldn't get angry. We will always get angry whether we like it or not, but he is asking us to put our anger in check. Anger is an emotion we should control and not the other way round. Proverbs 16:32 says, “He who is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and he who controls his temper is greater than one who captures a city.”

May God help us to live out our faith in Jesus’ name. Amen.