Swift to hear

So then, my beloved brethren, 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. – James 1.19-20

I don’t believe in New Year's resolutions. From my own experience they last about as long as sunshine on an Irish winter’s day. As long as I can remember the basic resolutions are to ‘eat better and exercise.’ And yet impact does that resolution normally have? 

But if I did do resolutions I would like to adopt this one for 2015. 

Be swift to hear

Be slow to speak

Be slow to get angry

That all sounds so simple, doesn’t it. Can you imagine a world where we all listened more, spoke less, and watched our anger? I an honestly say that most of my problems with others have come when I have not listened enough, when I have spoken too quickly, or when I have allowed myself to get angry. I’ll deal with anger later. For now I want to take a quick moment to look at the importance of being swift to hear and slow to speak. 

I hope that as the years ago I am learning some lessons. I hope that I am not the man I used to be. In my youthful ignorance I far too often had to have my say. There was nothing more important than getting my point across. I often have spoken before I have heard the whole story or thought about the consequences. I simply had to speak my peace. 

It is still a struggle. You would think a guy who is saved for forty years would learn how to simply keep his mouth shut – but I still battle with. 

Mary never liked the phrase ‘shut up.’ I agree, it is an ugly thing to say. But sometimes I think we all could learn some valuable lessons, avoid a lot of problems, and be a better testimony for Christ by simply keeping our mouths shut and listening more.