Be quick to listen, slow to speak
and slow to become angry.
—James 1:19
You know someone who models the exact opposite of today’s text: someone who is slow to listen, quick to speak and quick to become angry—leaving in their wake a waste dump of disaster.
To me, one of the most breathtaking things about God is that he not only forgives our sins, but forgets them (Heb 8:12). We’re not like that! When we’ve been the target of hateful words, hopefully we can forgive. But forget?
If your words wound, no matter how sorry you are for having said them, you’ve left a load of toxic relationship rubble.
Before speaking, turn up the volume on these words: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps 141:3).
Speak sparingly. Silence cannot be repeated.