Quick to Listen - James 3.19

You may have heard it said that we have two ears and one mouth because we should listen more than we speak. But did you know that the Bible has something to say about that too? 

James 1:19-20 “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for a man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” 

Just being honest, that is hard to do. Apart from God’s Holy Spirit working inside of us you might even say that it’s impossible. By nature we want our ideas to be heard and oftentimes are formulating what we want to say next when we should be slowing down to truly … listen. It’s easy for me to think of listening in purely a physical or scientific sense. It’s much harder for me to slow down, and genuinely listen (hear the meaning) of the words being spoken to me. 

Today I want to encourage us all (myself included) to see how much you we focus on being quick to listen, slow to speak and especially slow to become angry.