Today’s Scripture reading is James 1:19-21.
Verse 19, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:"
The word, swift, means prompt or ready, quick. More times than most can remember, we usually reverse what we are admonished to do in the verse. Instead of being ready to listen, we are more than ready to speak. This is what brings about much trouble in our lives. We open our mouth so quickly we cannot stop the unkind words from coming out. I remember someone saying we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. The reason being we should listen twice as much as we talk. In James 3 verse 8, we are told that the tongue is like a wild animal - "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."
Today would be a good day to seek the Lord's help with not only taming our tongues, but opening up our ears to listen to those around us. The swifter we are to hearing, the slower we will be to speaking. I close with the famous words of one our Anchor teens from the past - "JUST LISTEN!"