Hear God's Truths By Listening With Love

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this.

Everyone should be quick to listen,

slow to speak and slow to become angry.

James 1:19

Every time I run across this verse it makes me stop. I think the reason I tend to be quick to speak and slow to listen is that I am so in love with my own perceptions and agendas that others can frustrate and anger me. Listening, then, has to be the opposite—it has to be motivated by love for the other person. I cannot love like that unless I listen to Jesus tell me how much he loves me in his Word. When I think about him on the cross, dying for me because it gives him so much joy to be with me, His Spirit works his love in my heart. Love is what makes me want to listen to someone besides myself.

Listening is the opportunity God gives me to get to know the person next to me—my child, my spouse, my friend. 

True listening is loving the other person enough to want to know them better. It’s focusing on what the other person is saying and how they are saying it. It is love that gives the other person time to form their thoughts. 

Listening to someone, watching their facial expressions and body language, asking questions to understand better all give opportunities:

• To honestly confess our own struggles and guilt.

• To speak forgiveness.

• To share the promises of God.

• To listen to Jesus together as he speaks his love from his Word.

A Daily Prayer:
O Jesus, I repent of all the opportunities you gave me to listen that I wasted on my own selfish agendas and needless worry. Open my heart to listen to you and to the people you have given me in my life today. Thank you for your forgiveness that makes me safe in your love so I can love others enough to be honest and vulnerable with them. Amen.