Change in Behavior
Change in behavior: outwardly (James 1:19–27)
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
God accepts us as we are, but the wonderful thing is that He is not willing to leave us as we are. He wants to transform us and move us forward. The enemy of growth is complacency and self-satisfaction. God continually wants to challenge and change us so that we can grow. According to James, God’s work in our lives becomes visible in three areas: listening, responding, anger. Let’s dive into listening.
Listening (communicative)
There is hardly anything as necessary in our society and yet so rarely practiced as truly listening to another person. Consider it a tremendous gift if you find someone who gives you their full attention. Someone who shows you that they truly have time for your concerns, who does not give the impression that their thoughts are already wandering elsewhere. A person with an open ear and a closed mouth is a rare treasure. Because such people are difficult to find, many troubled individuals pay good money to speak with a psychologist.
What makes genuine listening difficult is anger. When we are angry with someone, our thoughts are distracted from truly listening. Anger destroys relationships.
Perhaps you have seen pictures of a busy street after a bomb exploded there, for example in Florence, Italy some time ago. Torn and burned-out car parts lie scattered around. Craters in the road and shattered glass everywhere create a picture of devastation. After a bomb has struck, nothing remains intact or orderly. Angry words are like an exploding bomb: they leave behind only fragments and disorder. Uncontrolled anger wounds and destroys relationships. There is no virtue in angrily telling your boss, spouse, or friend exactly what you think. Such behavior is always destructive.
Anger does not produce what is right before God because it destroys. The prophet Micah spoke of God’s righteousness when he said: “He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). God’s righteousness consists in showing love. Anger, however, robs us of compassion for others and prevents us from loving them.
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