What if?

 

James 1:19

How would life be different if I would have applied these truths to my life, do you ever ask such questions?  One small verse of Scripture packed with such great advice on living life, not in heaven, but on this earth.  “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.”  Being in sales most of my adult life, I’ve become somewhat of an observer of people, and this is what I’ve observed; many of us like to be heard, many of us are quick to speak, but very slow to hear, and in all of my adult life I have never seen so many so quick to get angry.

I know men and women who are slow to speak, who are good listeners, and this is my observation; they are leaders, they seem to be full of wisdom, and people go to them for council.  Have they learned from Proverbs 15:31, “He who listens to a life-giving rebuke will be at home among the wise.”  Or, maybe they read Proverbs 8:34, “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.”  God tells us that King Solomon was the wisest natural man who has lived on planet earth, and he wrote this advise for all of us in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.  To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.  Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth.  Therefore let your words be few.”  A wise man once said, it is hard to hear when your lips are moving. 

For years I’ve blamed my diarrhea of the mouth on being so small in my youth, and also my lack of education, and the truth is those had some effect on my need to be heard, but the bottom line is, for many years I was very insecure, and insecure people do dumb things.  I often wonder how life would have been different, if my dad would have taken me through a study on being quick to listen and slow to speak?  He might have used some of these Scriptures to guide me: Proverbs 13:3, “He who guards his lips guards his soul, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.”  Proverbs 34:13, “keep your tongue from evil and you lips from speaking lies.”  Or what about Proverbs 21:23, “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.”  What if dad had written these truths on my heart and mind, surely as a dad he observed my quickness of speech.  But that is history, and I’m still in the process of breaking those bad habits, but if you have children or grandchildren teach them these truths.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice