Read James 1:19–20
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
We should not get angry with God or His Word. “A patient man has
great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly” (Prov.
14:29). Many church fights are the result of short tempers and hasty
words. There is a godly anger against sin, and if we love the Lord, we
must hate sin. But our anger does not produce God’s righteousness. In
fact, anger is just the opposite of the patience God wants to produce
in our lives as we mature in Christ.
I once saw a poster that read, “Temper is such a valuable thing, it
is a shame to lose it!” It is temper that helps to give steel its strength.
If we cannot get angry at sin, we will not have much strength to fight
it. James warns us against getting angry with God’s Word because
His Word reveals our sins to us. Like the man who broke the mirror because he disliked the image in it, we rebel against God’s Word
because it tells the truth about us and our sinfulness.
Something to Ponder
Think about the last time you became really angry. How did you deal
with your anger? How might the situation have been different if you’d
been quicker to listen and slower to speak?