Be Quiet and Pay Attention

In James 1:19, Jimmy says, “Know this, my beloved brothers:” as we will see, James isn’t going to pull any punches in the next few verses. He is going to tell it like it is. So, from the outset, he uses very affectionate terms (beloved brothers) so they know he’s speaking out of his love for them.

“…let every person be quick to hear,” Have you ever reacted before you understood the situation? Boy I have! Sometimes with worry, sometimes with anger, sometimes with just trying to help but doing so in the wrong way because I didn’t listen long enough to know what was really going on. In any and every situation we ought to patiently seek to understand the reality of what’s being said or what’s going on. 

One of the best ways to be quick to perceive is to be “slow to speak,”. This will come as a shock to some, but this can be a problem for me. I am way too quick to speak. I have a mentor who is known for being slow to speak and quick to hear. I have asked him for advice, and he will look at me for a few moments and then wander off. I will get a call from him in the next day or so with incredibly perceptive and wise feedback. 

Allow me to put it to you (and to myself) this way, the most important thing is not to be heard, but to perceive reality accurately. In our culture today we have this absurd notion that everyone’s truth needs to be heard, as if truth were relative. This causes many in this world to live in a lie, in a counterfeit reality, never knowing themselves, their God or what they are about. The most important

“slow to anger” Why is anger the example James goes to? Because it is the usually the one that is guilty in this area the most, of going off without all the facts, without any perception of reality. One day in High School I saw a good buddy of mine named Jake walking with his girlfriend. I said something like “What’s up bro?” He promptly responded by telling me if I didn’t get away from them, he was going to kick my…. I had no idea what had happened, just the day before he and I were laughing together in class. It was like this for days until I finally discovered that he had mis-heard my greeting. He thought I was insulting them. I still don’t know how that happened. But if he had just held off his anger for a few moments and tried to get to the bottom of what really happened, it would have been fine. 

“for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” This is so important. We often talk about how Jesus got angry when He flipped the tables or had strong words for the Pharisees. We see other characters in scripture get angry like Moses or Elijah and it seems to be praised. These are not the anger of man though, these are the anger of God, a righteous anger. It is very difficult for you and me to maintain a righteous anger. Even if our anger starts from a just place but we make it too big or mishandle it. More often than not, we are angry over something we ought not be angry about because we are being petty or we haven’t completely understood what is going on. Sometimes being quick to hear means to empathize with the other person. Even if they have wronged you have you taken a moment to pay attention to who they are and what they’re going through? Often times another’s persons sin towards you is a result of something else going on in their lives. 

With regard to this current crisis, remember that none of us have every gone through any of this before. Whether it be a family member, neighbor, store, restaurant, church, government – we are all trying to figure this out as we go. James message to us is to only react when we are sure of the facts and always with God’s love and Jesus in mind.