James 1:19
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.
Listening and Doing
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
In the communication process, James places an urgency on listening. He says, “Be slow about speaking. Be slow about becoming angry. Being understood is not an urgent matter. Take your time. But listening? Now that’s another matter. Be quick about that.” For James, there is urgency about this crucial skill.
Hearing comes naturally. Hearing is something we have to work hard not to do. In a noisy room we have to ‘tune out’ the shatter. Hearing deals with noise; listening deals with meaning. We have to want to listen.
First listen – then speak.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment