Day 2243 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

James 1:19 NIV

What's the first thing someone does when you tell them to not look down. They look down! Our world has pretty much done the same thing with the message of this verse. We've gone the opposite way. Not really sure why we do the opposite of what we're asked to do, but when it comes to this one, it's undoubtedly caused far more problems than solutions.

These days far too many are extremely quick to be angry. They're triggered by anything they don't agree with. It's as if they actively go looking for things to be offended by just so they can scream and yell some more. Not many are slow to speak. Most never stop speaking. I guess they think that the way to prove their point or win some foolish battle is to say more or say it louder. And as for listening, well, there's little hope of that period.

And yet we wonder why things aren't getting better? Why do we still have so much strife and division? Why haven't we figured out a way to calm things down and work together? Well, we've stopped listening to wisdom! As we discussed yesterday, we're too busy convincing ourselves that our opinions are the truth. We're busy putting ourselves on a pedestal so we can look down on everyone else. It's hard to find a middle ground when neither side is willing to work together.

As long as anger and short tempers continue to rule our hearts and minds then things aren't going to improve much. As long as we continue yelling instead of listening we won't be able to hear what anyone is saying. As long as we refuse to keep an open mind we will never learn anything. It's scary to become wise in our own eyes because it makes us think that we know everything and don't need to listen anymore.

God gave us two ears and only one mouth. That should tell us something. But as long as our mouths are working more than our ears then we're going to keep tripping over misunderstandings. Being calm will always help us more than getting upset. Listening to others will always help us understand where they're coming from and how they're feeling. And as we should all understand by now, kindness will always help more than hatred.

Stay calm, listen more than you speak, and don't say anything if it's not going to help. It's all seriously simple. But again, we have that pesky habit of doing the opposite of what we're asked to do.