Everyone in life faces certain situations. Everyone faces times of grief, sadness, anger, etc. It's important in our lives as Christians, in every situation we face to practice these values.
1. "Swift to hear"
What does it mean to be swift to hear? It means to focus/ concentrate our attention. It means not just hearing with our ears, but to open up our minds, and to let it penetrate our hearts. All too often, we hear without hearing. It passes through our ear canal, but often passes right on out the other side. And sometimes, what God says to us doesn't impact us. Why? it's because it doesn't soak into our hearts. We not only do this in the physical ralm, but we do ti spiritually as well. Do you know what we do a lot of times in our time praying and studying the Word of God? We read the Bible, we pray, but so often our minds are already made up or set. You know, we would be more honest with the Lord, if we would just tell Him, "God, this is what I want, this is what I'm doing, so Lord, I just want You to work our the details." All too often, we do all the talking, but we never take the time to listen to what He has to say to us. God has a lot to say to us, not just only through His Word, but also through that time of prayer and fellowship. Did you realize that your personal prayer time with God is also your fellowship time? What we need to do is not just us talk, but then we need to open up our ears and our hearts and listen. We would be better off to do less talking, and more listening. But do you know what the problem is? Sometimes our minds are too preoccupied to listen. Too many times in prayer, we think about other things than what really matters when it comes to listening to God. What we need to do is be still, be quiet, be opened and listen to what God has to say. Now, if you would for just a minute, think about how God made us. The Lord gave us 1 mouth, and 2 ears, and He didn't do that by accident. God gave us that 2-1 ratio and we need to put it to good use and close our mouth and open our ears.
Proverbs 1:5 says, "A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise council."
Proverbs 2:2 says, "So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding." (I think we all need to do that!)
James, here in this passage gives us some practical advice when he tells us that we need to be "swift to hear."
2. Slow to speak
James is talking here about us having control of our tongues. Our tongues can get us into more trouble than any other part of our bodies. Did you know that more damage/ destruction is done with the tongue than we will ever know/ comprehend? If we are not careful, out tongue can do a whole lot of irrevocable damage. In James chapter 3 (v. 1-12), he talks about controlling our tongue. He uses the example of putting a bit in a horse's mouth, and driving a ship. That's what we need to do. How often is it in our daily lives, that we put a bit in our mouth? How often is it that we pray, "God, let the words that come from my lips glorify you"? We don't know the power that lives in our tongues. We, as believers, need to try to bring that little red snake, that lives inside of our mouths, into subjection. So, why does James tell us that we need to be "slow to speak?" It's because he knows how we as humans operate. A lot of people in society in which we live, have absolutely no filter between their brain, and their mouth! So many times, we think we can just spew things out of our mouths, and then go back and apologize for it later, but we can NEVER get those words back; The words are out there, we blew it. It's like spilling a drink, you can clean it up all you want, but you cannot put it back into that cup.
3. Slow to wrath
This means that we need to contain/ control our anger. Why do we need to control our anger? So that it doesn't control us. James says in our passage in verse 20, "for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." Uncontrolled anger violates God's standard of conduct for the Christian.
Proverbs 16:32 says, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city."
Ephesians 4:30-31 says, "And do not grieve the Holy spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, WRATH, ANGER, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."
So, is it possible to bring our anger under control? Yes it is! If it wasn't, then why in the world would James, and these other passages tell us that we need to control it? If we couldn't control it, why would the Holy Spirit lead these men to write us this message?
How do you handle this problem?
1. You need to realize/ admit there is a problem.
2. Confess it and forsake it.
3. Earnestly pray the God will remove the problem from you.
Do you know what happens when we have a short/ quick temper? We react to things/ people/ situations in a quick response. We don't bother to take the time to process it. Then we do/ say things that we never thought we would do/ say. When we don't think things out, we end up reacting in the flesh, and not in the Spirit. When we react in the flesh, we are not representing the attributes of God. We end up hurting people, hurting our testimony, and ultimately hurting the cause of Christ. As Christians, we need to be controlled by the Spirit, and not be allowing our flesh to rise up and control us.
James 1:19-20, "So then, my beloved brothren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God."