Be Slow To Anger

Be Slow To Anger “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” James 1:19-20 Have you ever considered how many times you have gotten angry when you did not get your way? Probably so many times that only God could really keep count. James is warning us in the scripture above to learn to listen, and to cultivate the art of listening. For example, your son promises to clean the basement after he has been doing his woodworking project, and has left it in a mess. It makes you happy to think that when you get back, the sawdust will be vacuumed up and everything placed back in its proper place. When you arrive home you go down the stairs expecting to see a neat and tidy basement. But to your surprise, the basement is exactly the way it was when you left, and your son is nowhere to be found. By the time you find him, you are boiling on the inside. If you follow James’s instruction, you will remind yourself that you need to listen to his side of the story (“quick to hear”). He will most likely have a reasonable explanation. If not, we need to say, “I need to think about this, and I’ll be back to talk to you further” (“slow to speak”). Next, you need to pray and think about what you want to say, and how you want to say it. Finally, go back to your son and talk with him, speaking in a gentle tone of voice. If you have done all the above, you will be very “slow to anger.” If you follow this advice, you can see that although you were disappointed in your son, you did not allow the situation to develop into something that could damage your relationship with him. We need to take the time to listen fully, and then be very careful in using words when we speak that does not invoke anger. Jesus was a good listener, and was very patient. Robert W. Brock My Daily Devotional Volume Seven​ March 30