Responding Well

“This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19-20)

We’ve all heard the phrase that we have two ears and one mouth and we need to listen more than we speak. This passage starts off with that admonition but then continues on with a deeper thought – how do we react to what we hear?

In this particular passage James was talking about reacting to arguments within in the church, and how they were reacting to sin in the church. They were reacting inappropriately with human anger rather than allowing God’s righteousness to work in the hearts of those who needed to repent. In fact their anger was causing fights and distracting from what God was trying to work in them.

Our lack of patience and reacting in anger can produce the opposite effect not only in the person we’re getting angry at, but it robs us of the lesson of patience and learning how to respond and react well.

There is a saying: “Temper is such a valuable thing, it’s a shame to lose it”

You’ve heard of tempered steel – it is the temper that gives steel it’s strength, so learning how to control and channel our feelings and not react inappropriately not only allows God to work, but it will also help us to grow in the eyes of others who will come to trust us by knowing we don’t respond in anger but in love.

That doesn’t mean we don’t hate sin and confront it when necessary, but we realize that not much is ever solved when it is handled in anger and wrath.