Sunday 23 December 2012

3 stones on your road: Forgiveness, Wisdom, Patience


"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." 
James 1:19-20

As I read this, I find this verse very funny because, ironically, these three things are the things that people nowadays are the least likely to do. Everyone's family has many conflicts and dramas because they don't tend to listen to each other causing miscommunication. As we get into the moment, we begin to become more impulsive and no one really thinks about what they are saying any more  Thus, this leads to insults, swearing, and bullying. Lastly, as our world becomes more convenient and changes everyday, we find ourselves being less patient with others and more frustrated which causes anger to build within us. 

Almost simultaneously, we humans have almost done the complete opposite of what God has said in this verse. This shows how corrupted and sinful our society can be and how we need to be able to overcome these things and live a life of Christ. 

Basically, this verse is teaching you patience, wisdom, and forgiveness. You learn patience by stopping yourself from talking and just listening to others and their problems. Sometimes the best solution to someone's problems is a listener and not a "solver". Wisdom is being "slow to speak". In our world, communication is key for almost everything and it is hard to imagine a life without speaking so usually, we spend the entire time talking. When God asks us to be "slow to speak" this means we should take the time and think of what we're going to say before we're going to say it because it may be harmful or painful to people around you. Lastly, you need to be able to forgive others because you can't let anger control your life. Anger leads to impulsive decisions based on emotion but if you are able to control this, you would be able to do the logical thing and think before you do. 

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