“Everyone should be quick to listen; slow to speak; slow to become angry.” James 1:19
Aargggghhhhh. Don’t you just hate it when the Bible nails you with a 3- clause-elliptical aphorism that’ll get stuck in your brain and quicken your heart all day, all week long? I do, and I don’t.
I’ve been mentioning my study of James here these last few weeks, and this verse has been “stuck in my head” since last week when I first read it. The day it got stuck, the day I first read it, for some ridiculous reason I thought “well at least I’ll remember not to get angry today!” I should have known better.
I went to get in my car to drive to Physical Therapy — that simple task that has recently become much more complex. I went to start the car only to discover my keys weren’t in my purse. No biggie, right?!! Do you know what I did? Explosively, with powerful righteous indignation, I threw up my one working arm, and shouted to all the birds and the bees who inhabit our garage, “GREAT!”
There was no lag time. Even as I was venting my huge frustration over a ridiculously miniscule matter, the verse was scrolling through my brain. And I just stopped. Took a deep breath. Said, “Lord, forgive me. I think I’m going to need a little more help with this than I had originally anticipated.”
Maybe you don’t need it stuck in your head, but I do.
For consideration, how does being quick to listen and slow to speak impact your anger (if you ever have that emotion?:)
Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
