What a wonderful Sunday it is! Today we began a new slate of Bible classes. I think most of us really do enjoy the beginning of a new class. There’s a freshness and a nearly palpable excitement that wafts through an assembly on days such as these. We like the newness. Obviously we’re teaching the same timeless truth from the same timeless book, but many aspects of these classes are new. The teachers are new, the classmates are new, the material is new, and some insights may be new to you. Yet, while our classes bring us so many new things we must be sure to bring to them something old. There is an old attitude that I must bring to these new studies in God’s word, the attitude described by James in James 1:19,
“But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.”
We often reference that attitude in terms of our relationships, and it is true that this wisdom carries over into a variety of different areas of life, relationships included. It seems, though, the most direct application of this passage is regarding our response to the truth we confront in the word of God. So, as we delve into these new Bible studies let’s strive to keep that old attitude alive and well within us.
As we study the word, let’s strive to have quick-hearing ears. That means to be eager to hear what God has to say, especially when the topic is difficult for me, new to me, or challenges some preconceived belief within me.
As we study the word, let’s strive to be a slow-speaking kind of people, and that does not mean slow in terms of tempo. Instead, it means we carefully consider what has been said/taught before we respond to it. We let the word of God (and the person teaching from it) have it’s full vent before we react.
As we study the word, let’s strive to be slow to anger. There can be no doubt that we are studying a book that is hard on the conscience. The Bible pricks, cuts, and convicts all of us in many different ways whenever we open it. That leaves us with two choices: accept the correction or become enraged as a defense mechanism for my guilt. James urges us to be the kind of people who do not get angry in the face of correction, but accept it with grace.
I pray that you find new challenges and new help in your new class, but I also pray thatyou’d take that old attitude with you when you go.
