Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be
swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not
the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay
apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness
the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers
only deceiving your own selves. James,
Chapter 1, verses 19-22.
But whoso looketh into the perfect Law of liberty,
and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the
work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
James, Chapter 1, verse 25.
This is of special importance to me right now,
because a minor matter has worked a wedge in my relationship with someone I
care about. God didn’t put these words
in the Bible to be something nice for us to read. He had the Bible written to provide
guidelines for our lives and to remind us how things like anger, resentment and
hatred can subtly interfere with our relationship with God and others. I can read this passage and just say, “Yeah,
God is right. I shouldn’t let wedges
develop between others and me,” and then do nothing further about it. Or I can be an example of how God works in my
life by taking the first step, however awkward it might be to set things
right. The choice is up to us.
Because this is an example of how I’ve applied this Bible passage to my life, it doesn’t necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the passage.
