Listen Up - May 3, 2011

Point of View:
Well, in James Chapter 1, verse 20, James tells us that; “Anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” Knowing this, I think that the main reason we fight and get angry is because of miscommunications. Either we do not understand somebody’s side of the story or we are just too emotionally connected to the topic at hand. Either way, listening can greatly improve our lack of communication. James tells us to “be quick to listen first, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” I think that he puts those three in that order for a reason. Notice he tells us to be quick to listen first, why do you think that is? I believe it’s because we barely ever listen when we start to get offended, right? If somebody is starting to upset us or hurt our feelings, we just want them to go away or start to yell at them so that they feel how we feel. Well, instead of getting upset and saying hurtful words, we should learn to be quick to listen first. If we learn to hear people out, not interrupt them and be patient, we will find ourselves not getting angry nearly as much. Of course, being quick to listen and slow to speak together will be the ultimate way of not getting angry. So make sure you peep Thursdays devotional as we will be digging into being slow to speak then.

The Challenge:
Be quick to listen and patient if you start to feel offended this week. Lets try to remember that getting angry does not produce the righteousness that God desires, so let’s work on staying positive no matter the conditions. If you do get angry or upset though, go to our Father, God in prayer and ask for forgiveness.

Prayer Points:
• Thank God for giving us the book of James.
• Ask for patience as listening may take time that we don’t want to give.
• Pray that you will be able to keep a positive attitude and glorify God in your actions.

The Word:

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
- James 1:19-20

A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.
- Proverbs 15:18