Reaction Time

Hello church!

The book of James is a good one to challenge us to live deeper in our faith. The thought I believe we should take time to unpack during this worship series is, “Be who you say you are, yes!; but more importantly allow God to work through you to transform you into the person He created.” This is something that can challenge us since it has us go beyond our human desires and become something even more than we thought because we live out our faith deeper and become closer to God through Jesus Christ.

Today we continue looking in James chapter 1 and come to some verses I need to hear, and my guess is that there are others who need to read these verses as well.

James 1:19-20 CEB “Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry. This is because an angry person doesn’t produce God’s righteousness.”

Children are funny and incredible people. They go from happy to angry to throwing a tantrum faster than we adults can react to. We pray and work with children to learn to slow down and control their anger and emotions so they don’t hurt themselves or other people. Do we adults do this as well?

A couple days ago, I was in the store and found myself getting frustrated and upset because people kept cutting in front of me and I kept thinking “they need to think about other people and not try to only do what they want.” I think a similar thought happens in most people. We do not like it when people stop us, or slow us down from doing our tasks. We are busy people who do not like to be redirected.

What do we do with children? We attempt to redirect them in order to guide them to utilize their energy in an appropriate way. Is this something we can do as adults? I love the speed analogies used in these verses “quick,” and “slow.”

We should be fast in our reaction time to listen and observe the situation and what people are actually saying. We should be slow in our reaction time to speak because we may say something not helpful, something we might regret, something we can’t take back, something that doesn’t build the character of the person just tearing it down. Finally we should be slow to become angry.

We make brash decisions when we’re angry and lose our ability to see the entire picture. There are times when it is okay to become angry. Most of the time we become angry about trivial things. These verses are showing us that we should take the time to listen and observe so we can discern the appropriate thing to say (if needed) and so we do not act out of anger which could actually hurt the relationship.

What are some things that make you angry? Football team losing? Traffic? Long lines to check out at the store? Spouse not do the dishes? Children without food? Abuse? What makes you angry? Is it worth allowing that emotion to be fueled?

This is why we take time to observe and listen to the situation. Our reaction time of our emotions can help or hurt our witness to show people the grace of God. Everything we do is an opportunity to bring people to faith, and give a tangible witness to what we really believe.

I work on my reaction time daily. This is possible because the Holy Spirit is our counselor and guides us in our lives.

Lord God, you have given us the gift of faith. Help us to live righteously, in Your sight, so we can have our lives reflect Your glory, Your love, Your holiness. In Christ’s name, Amen.