Did you know that I've been getting
beat up for the last several months?
It's True
I'm 36, 6'4, and just a shade over
200... (o.k. maybe more than a shade) but I've been getting beat
up by a guy who's a couple Millennia my elder
It's from a guy named James.... Actually,
it's from his letter.
Some of you may know that I've been
working through this letter as lessons for Youth Group, but I'll be honest, one
of the reasons I felt led to doing a study on this letter this year wasn't just
because I thought it would be good for the Youth... I thought it would be good
for me to study it again, and honestly, I think it would be good for all of us
to read and re-read it. This is the first time I've actually posted on my
study and what I've been finding/discovering, but I am sure it won't be my
last.
anyways...
So, what is our problem you are
wondering? (If you've even made it this far)
We have a hearing problem.
We have gotten James 1:19 a little
jumbled up... I think we are reading it wrong...
Let’s see if you can find the error
James 1:19a: "Know this, my
beloved brothers; let every person be slow to hear, and quick to speak
...."
Did you catch it? (If
not, feel free to read it again)
I don't think we realize it, but I
think we have mixed up a couple words.
It should say “… let every person
be quick to hear and slow to speak…”
Are we living our daily life like a
Presidential Debate? (if you have never watched one, I encourage
you to watch one for about ten minutes and you will understand what I'm
saying)
Are we speaking before we
hear?
Actually, let me rephrase that.
Are we choosing to speak before we fully
understand what we hear?
If we choose to speak before we
understand what we have heard, we are choosing to speak on what we don't fully
know or understand. When we choose to speak on what we don't fully
understand... well let's just say I've never seen a positive outcome as a
result.
Just about everyone (not all, but
most) I know identifies as Christian and to be a Christian means to be
religious. And James goes on to touch on that in verse 26 where he
writes "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle
his tongue, deceives himself and this person's religion is worthless."
Man, that is a rough verse…
I wish I could say in my 15+ years
of ministry that this issue of being able to speak slowly has been improving in
the world and in the church, but unfortunately, it hasn't. It's been
getting worse. We are starting to speak like the Presidential Debates and
saying things for the sake of saying them. We don't really care if we
actually know the full truth or say the full truth, and we don't really care if
what we say is hurtful, we just say them because we want everyone else to know
what we think we know.
I wish I could say I was innocent
in this whole epidemic, but if I did, I'd be speaking a lie. I've had it
done to me and I know I've (regrettably) done it to
others. But the question is, what am I going to do about it? It is
one of my aims in life to make the Book of James central to how I live my life
and I hope you will help me in that quest. I promise to help you in that
as well if you'd like me too.
But before I really go off on a
soapbox... it is my hope that we can take the words of James 1: 19-20 to heart
May we fix our selective hearing
problem. Because if we don’t, we will jumble up the rest of the
passage. If we are slow to hear, and quick to speak, then we will also be
quick to anger," and the anger of man does not produce the righteousness
of God." And in experience, it's not just one person who becomes
angry, it's multiple people who become angry.
Will you help me in my hearing and
my speech? I hope so
I'll help you to if you'd like me
too. It won't be easy...
But God never said being his
disciple would be easy... but he did say it was "the way"
