Bible Truths: “The Wrath of Man”

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath:  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”                                                        James 1:19,20

I was reading an older book the other day that was talking about the hectic pace of life in America during the 1920’s and 1930’s.  Imagine that.  No cell phones.  No TVs.  No Twitter.  No Facebook.  Kids were not involved in 100 activities at all times.  Life in the 30’s seems pretty laid back, does it not?  Rest assured, we also will look back on the early 2000’s as a peaceful time, too.  But living in these times is something else.  Sometimes, with the pace of life, the demands, the bills, the activities, the noise, and everything else, it is easy to lose our tempers, to allow ourselves to be angry at others, or just be angry at life, in general.  We live in a fast-paced culture; sometimes we are easily and quickly angered.

“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.”  We are to be slow to wrath.  The speed of our anger should not accelerate just because our life does.  Just as the early Christians were commanded to be slow to wrath, we 21^st century Christians are given the same admonition.

How can we do this?  This same verse tells us.  We are to be swift to hear.  We should be good listeners.   Maybe, if we actually listen to another person and try to understand the situation, we will have no need to be angry.  Maybe, if we listen well to another person, conflict can be avoided.  By listening to others we can defuse them and the situation.  As believers, we are called to be swift to hear.

We are also told to be slow to speak.  Instead of running our mouths, telling everybody everything that we know, offering our two cents to anyone who will listen, we should just be quiet.  “To everything there is a season…a time to keep silence and a time to speak.” (Ecc 3:1,7)  Silence, as the saying goes, can be golden.  Being slow to speak can solve the problem of speaking before we think.  Maybe, instead of inflaming the conversation with impulsive words spoken without thinking, we can think carefully about what words we say to one another, because we know that the words we say can have a real effect on others, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” (Pv 18:21).

If we consciously take these verses, memorize them, think about them, and apply them, we can become slow to wrath.  We want to be slow to get angry because our wrath doesn’t show others the righteousness of God.  We must remember that we are ambassadors for Him (II Cor 5:20).  Some people will form their opinions of Christ based off of how they see you behave.  Are you showing them your wrath?  Or God’s righteousness?  Our Heavenly Father does have wrath against sin, but He is not quick tempered.  He is “longsuffering…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  (II Peter 3:9)  May we become slow to wrath and show others Christ’s righteousness.

Pastor Lee Smith