Recently, I was listening to a podcast by Andy Stanley. He spoke about the book of James where he describes the tongue as a wild animal. The emphasis that caught my attention the most, was "be quick to listen and slow to speak."
This means, slow your roll. You don't always need to talk, you don't always need to contribute something. Usually, when we are trying to speak, it's because we want to be heard. We want to be right. We want to be listened to.
But the truth is, everyone wants to be listened to at one point or another.
When we are too quick to get our two cents in, we will cause them to shut down and we will not hear them correctly. When we pause and are "quick to listen" we can learn things about the other person. When we hold back our desires to be heard, we can ask questions and grow closer to that person.
I don't know if someone needs to hear that tonight, but I did. It has actually caused me to be "quick to listen" with my son regarding misunderstandings and arguments. It has caused me to view my mom in a different way and ask questions to learn more about her. That shows her that I'm interested in her, not interested in fixing her and changing her.
"This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;"
James 1:19 NASB
If nothing else, remember this, God gave us TWO ears and one mouth.
Comments