God Tells Us to be Quick to Listen Part I -
There are none
that possess any righteousness in and of themselves (Romans 3:10); when
we surrender our lives to Christ Jesus, as our Lord and Savior, we receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit that indwells within our hearts and souls. Through the
Holy Spirits indwelling we have access to the righteousness of Christ Jesus. In
other words, when God sees us, He sees the righteousness of Christ Jesus in us.
Consequently, since it is not us that is righteous, as hard as we might try and
want it to be, our anger is not righteous anger. Although the world and Satan want
us to believe that our emotions regulate and define right and wrong, this is
not the case. Our feelings do not justify or condone angry behavior, and more
importantly, our emotions do not determine reality. Therefore, as followers of
Jesus, what we say, when we say it and how we say it can affect our Christian
witness. Our words can turn others away from the Gospel of Christ and back to a
fallen world at enmity with God. People are always watching us, and our
behavior during a trial can either shine the light of Christ or turn others
away from Jesus and drive them deeper into a dark and dying world.
Additionally,
during personal trials and tribulation, Satan will often try to create an
emotional response in us. He does this so that he can get us to be slow to
listen and quick to speak. In doing this, Satan can influence us to be quick to
anger, hot-tempered, and this way, turning others away from wanting to seek
after Christ Jesus because of our actions. If we will only Heed the advice in
this verse of scripture and not be quick to respond to every situation, it will
be much more comfortable to put our faith in the Holy Spirit's guidance. When
we speak words in anger, it will be next to impossible to recall what we have
blurted out in antagonism. Thoughtless and Impulsive words spoken in anger can
harm and even possibly destroy a relationship that has taken years to
cultivate.
In our daily life
and interactions with others we are to let God's wisdom and the Holy Spirit, not
our emotions, guide our tongue. For this reason, in this section of scripture James
gives us a reminder as to the godly conduct for us who follow Christ. This
reminder is necessary because the Bible tells us that what the tongue speaks
comes from the depths of a person's heart. Therefore, James is also reminding
us to reflect on who Jesus is, what He has done for us, and who we are in
Christ. Also, these instructions from James, given by the Holy Spirit's
inspiration, will help to soften our hearts and make them a better, more
fertile ground in which to receive and grow the Word of God in our hearts,
minds, spirits, and souls.
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