James 1:19–21
KJV — Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. (James 1:19)
NASB95 — This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. (James 1:19)
ESV — Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. (James 1:19)
There was a season when my temper spoke before my mind ever caught up. Words landed like blows, and by the time I realised what I’d said, the damage was already done. It was a costly way to live — costly enough, in the end, to land me behind the walls of Changi.
It was there, in a Crossroads Bible study under Pastor Paul Tan, that James 1:19 first stopped me cold. Swift to hear. Slow to speak. Slow to wrath. I had lived the order backwards my whole life.
These days, walking beside our Restarters at The Gateway, I catch the same old pattern whenever a shift goes wrong or a beneficiary pushes back. My first instinct still isn’t to listen — it’s to fix, to correct, to speak. But grace has taught me that a silence held one beat longer often serves someone better than my sharpest reply. Slow to speak isn’t weakness. It’s love, choosing its moment.
Lord, teach me to listen before I speak, and to master my anger before it masters me. Let my words today build up, not tear down. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. — 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
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