Slow To Speak

Proverbs 29:20  Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Tell me which of these do you think is better: saying the first thing that comes to your mind immediately, or taking a moment to reflect or ponder on your words before you speak? Which of the two options do you think is the best choice? Which option would be the wise way to go? Most of us would probably agree that the latter option is the one that we should choose. How many times have you spoken to someone and then immediately regretted saying what you said? Maybe even your intentions may have been in the right place, but the way that it came out just didn’t sound right and it got taken the wrong way, because you didn’t take the time to think it through.

We learn in the Bible that we should be wise, and one way that we can show wisdom is through the use of our speech. 

James 1:19  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

There are two words in this verse that we should pay attention to, swift and slow. If something is done swiftly it is done quick, speedily, or hastily, while the word slow means the complete opposite: not hurried or rushed. 

What are some things that you have done swiftly? Well one thing that comes to mind in my life is that there were occasions where we decided at the spur of the moment to go somewhere and we quickly grabbed a bunch of things that we thought we would need and left our home shortly afterwards. However, later that day when we got to our destination we realized that we forgot several important things that we should have brought with us, but because of our hasty decision to go we didn’t have them. If we had slowly thought about everything that we would have needed we would not have been left in that situation.

And you can apply this same line of thinking to whenever we speak. The apostle James wrote in his letter that we should be swift to hear, and slow to speak. Always quick to listen, but also to always think before we speak or answer others. When someone does this they show wisdom.

Speech is one of our main methods of communicating with others, and it is very important that when we speak that we do not say things that we will regret later. We want our speech to be “seasoned” with the salt of the Holy Spirit, just flavoring our speech in all things.

Colossians 4:6  Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Do you remember when the adulterous woman was brought before Jesus? The Pharisees were intent on stoning her because of her sin, but they brought her before the Lord to see if they could find something that they could accuse Him for as well, so they asked Him what He said about the matter. But for a little while Jesus didn’t answer them. It was only after they continued to ask over and over again that Jesus gave them their answer. But He didn’t answer immediately, and how He answered showed the wisdom that He possessed. 

We too must think before we speak, not saying the first thing that comes to mind, but actually thinking about what we are going to say before we speak. We must have sound, Spirit-filled speech in all things.

Titus 2:7-8  In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

Quick to listen, slow to speak. And when you speak let it be with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

In Christ

Andrew