“You know this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Now everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” James 1:19 NASB
Smartphones, laptops, and social media have made us all a little bolder, I think. We can…and often will… say things from behind a keyboard that we wouldn’t speak face to face. And we often offer reactions in the space of the time it takes to hit like or share.
It’s not all bad, but is it too much? Too much information? Too many opinions? Too little accountability?
When I see arguments, posturing, and emotions flying, I can’t help but think of James 1:19, “You know this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Now everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”
The counsel given feels very countercultural doesn’t it? While we are quick to receive information, I don’t think we are quick to truly hear. We listen to react and respond rather than to understand most of the time. And I think we all perceive the difficulty with being slow to speak and slow to get angry.
The algorithms want us to speak. They want us angry…and even fearful. Because then we will keep speaking and keep scrolling and keep clicking, and they will keep getting that ad revenue. And we fall for it, often because we mean well. Because we do care. Because we want to speak to the issues that matter. Because we want good change, even when we disagree on what that good change might look like.
But there is wisdom in pausing. There is wisdom in praying. There is wisdom in speaking, not just my opinion or what I feel or what I think people expect of me, but what the Holy Spirit directs.
Because our words—whether typed or spoken—matter. Matthew 12:36 says, “But I tell you that for every careless word that people speak, they will give an account of it on the day of judgment.” As Christ-followers, that should give us pause. I don’t want my words to be careless. I don’t want my words to be fruitless.
We live in a culture where everything becomes content. Where we are told that if we don’t post about it, we are complicit. But social media isn’t the litmus test. Just because it isn’t posted on their socials doesn’t mean they don’t care. Often, it’s easier to post on socials than live it out in community or talk about it across tables, and isn’t that just a form of virtue signaling?
We think because we commented, liked, or shared that we have done something…even for the Kingdom. Have we? We feel bold, but to what end?
‘Tab, aren’t we supposed to be bold in our faith?’
Absolutely! Yes, be bold in your faith, by all means. Please do. If I am bold in anything, let it be my faith in Jesus. Let it be in making Him known. But boldness isn’t just tossing out a Scripture verse to justify our position. Boldness isn’t more volume or more words about Jesus. For our boldness to be fruitful, it must be born of Christ-likeness and Christ-centered, rooted in grace, and revealing the fruit of the Spirit, which is love. Otherwise, it’s just noise.
“If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may [a]glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NASB
