Thought of the day:
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. Reference James 1:19-20 NKJV
Very important words to reflect on. We need to not be so quick in speaking or reacting with anger in any situation. We don’t always know everything that’s going on. We don’t know what a person may have gone through or what they are thinking when they donor say certain things that can make us angry. We don’t always know the hurt or the pain they are dealing with that may have caused them to react in certain ways. And no, I’m not making excuses for people’s sin, please, hear me out.
Many times people may have had certain things happen in their lives or even been taught certain ways. They may or may not be the best type of things that help mold them. However, these things cause people to be reactionary to what’s going on around them. This maybe the reason that James wrote hear that we need to be quick to listen before we get upset or try to answer someone. The idea is that we need to hear the whole thing going on in someone’s life and/or mind. When we listen, without intention on trying to fix or answer them, but, truly listen, it helps the person to process what they are dealing with as well as make them more comfortable with us, because we’ve shown that we care. In other words, we cannot be dismissive with them.
Quick note: this does not mean we allow someone to temple us with angry speech. We can calmly ask them to please, don’t us ugly speech, yell nor gossip. We can explain to them that we do want to hear them but all the other stuff is not acceptable. We may have to remind them often about that too. Ugly talk and gossip is a whole other subject that we may look at soon.
When we’ve heard a person out, it helps us to understand where they’re coming from, again, not being quick to judge, so to speak, of what their going through, without hearing them out completely. This also means that we don’t interrupt, unless we’re asking questions to get more information. After hearing them out, we should pray with them and ask Our Lord for answers. Then, if we have some insight, ask them if they would like to hear it, before, we give it to them. Once we have permission, then we share our insight and maybe, we walk with them and help them through. We maybe able to help them to work on changing their habits and thoughts to be more Christ-Like one the process. If we react with answers right away or get angry quickly, we will not be able to hear them and guide them to Jesus for answers.
Are you actively listening to others?
