James 1:19

The Bible gives us good instructions that can save a lot of heartache and trouble if we are willing to be doers of the word. “Let every person be quick to hear and slow to speak …”

It is also true that only God can know the great good that has been done, the trouble and heartache that has been avoided, the friendships that remained true; because someone was quick to listen, and slow to speak.

I am thankful for the folks who have learned that listening is more than hearing. Jesus taught us that it requires looking through the eyes of the speaker’s heart and understanding what words fail to say. It is not snapping back when words come at you like darts, but knowing that hurting hearts sometimes throw darts.

The words that we speak come from some source. Our heart is like a well that gets it water from either a sweet or a bitter supply. It rarely takes very long to know the source. We must be very careful about contamination. Our words can sound like they come from the tongue of an angel, but when they are put to the test of Love, they are no more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Someone said of another person, “He needs to put a filter on his tongue.” It could be that if a filter was placed on the ear (or whatever the source of our thinking) our words would be much cleaner; and our conversations would be friendly and pure.

We are living in challenging times when differences of thought are as numerous as gnats on a summer day. Somehow, we as Christians must become better at being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Perhaps the best way is to make sure that the source of our hearts reservoir comes from the Springs of Living Water.

“How sweet the living water from the hills of God,
It makes me glad and happy all the way;
Now glory, grace and blessing mark the path I’ve trod,
I’m shouting Hallelujah every day.”