How to Keep Yourself in Check

By Jeff Cranston

Alexander, the main character in the children’s book, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” would have thoroughly understood days we sometimes run up against. He had a rough day once:

“There were lima beans for dinner and I hate lima beans. There was kissing on TV and I hate kissing. My bath was too hot, I got soap in my eyes, my marble went down the drain, and I had to wear my railroad-train pajamas. I hate my railroad-train pajamas … I think I’ll move to Australia.”[i]

We sympathize with Alexander who had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day because we have them, too. Author Max Lucado calls it getting “thumped” in life.

“Late night phone calls. Grouchy teacher. Grumpy moms. Burnt meals. Flat tires. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ deadlines. Those are thumps. Thumps are those irritating inconveniences that trigger the worst in us. They catch us off guard. Flat-footed. They aren’t big enough to be crises, but if you get enough of them, watch out! Traffic jams. Long lines. Empty mailboxes. Dirty clothes on the floor … thump, thump, thump.”[ii]

So how can you be ready for the thumps in life? And what should your response be if you’ve blown it? Read James 1:19-27. You prepare for the thumps that will come your way by building some stainless steel into your character through the three actions described in James 1:19b: “… everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger … ” But for this blog post, we will see what it means to be “swift to hear.”

Determine to receive God’s Word Into your life.

Being swift to hear means, first of all, making a determined reception of the Word of God. James 1:21 says, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.” How do you do this?

Rid your ears of bias

You have to get rid of the bias that may be in your life which colors your reception and keeps you from really hearing what God is saying. James says, “put aside all filth.” The original wording James uses here is a medical term often used to describe the wax build-up in the human ear. Biases clog up our spiritual ears just like wax build-up does in the ears on your head. 

When you read the Word while at the same time harboring reservations about letting it touch certain areas of your life, you are reading it with a bias. It will never make you spiritually strong and able to withstand storms in your life if you read it with a bias.

Delight in what you hear

The Bible teaches that when a person puts his or her trust in Jesus Christ, God gives that individual new life within; He “brings him forth with the word of truth.” The Word of God is no longer simply something outside of us; it is now inside of us. When we read it or hear it, there is an answering chord within our own spirits. James is saying that for the Christian, the strings of his heart are tuned to the notes of the Word of God. It is innate to us. We now are able to respond in kind by delighting in what we hear.

Choose to delight in the Word.

Secondly, being swift to hear means taking a sober delight in the Word. Notice how James puts this in verse 22: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

True hearing is obviously more than mere listening.  It is possible to listen until the cows come home and never hear. Taking in the Word isn’t hearing. Taking in the Word with a view to doing it keeps us from deceiving ourselves.

The word “deceives” comes from accounting. It means to make a miscalculation while keeping the books. It is possible, says James, to deceive yourself.  You can come to church on a regular basis, sit under the teaching of the Word, and be no better off than if you had stayed home. The only way to profit from the hearing of the Word is to see it as the doctor and you as the patient. Let it do its surgery on your heart, and you will be changed. That is real hearing.

Enjoy your freedom through the Word.

James 1:25 says, “But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”

Our lives are paradoxical. For example, in ordinary conversation, we might use a paradox like “Deep down he's really very shallow.” Dostoyevsky said that man acts in the way he feels like acting and not necessarily in his best interests. That’s a paradox.

The Word of God is paradoxical. It gives you limits, but in reality, it frees you. It is the law of liberty. Think of all the things that the obedient Christian is freed from. We are freed from having our lives wrecked and our families destroyed through promiscuity. We are freed from having children who crush our hopes because we follow the biblical patterns of parenting. We are freed from financial bondage through the wise use of managing our finances. And best of all, we are freed from a terrible bondage to self.

I remember when our daughters were in their toddler years.  One of the first things they had to learn was to stay away from the street. At first, we were reluctant to let them play in the front yard at all or ride their bikes in the front driveway, but as time passed and they proved their obedience, we were increasingly likely to let them play there. Their obedience gave them additional freedoms.

That is what James means when he says, “… he will be blessed in what he does.” “Blessed” means “happy.” James is anxious that we be happy, and we can only be that way if we look out for other people. Happiness is not found by going directly for it. It is a by-product of doing what is right.

Is life thumping you? Are you finding it difficult to manage the storms of life? Then be …

Swift to hear.
Slow to speak, and,
Slow to anger.

Care for others in their need. Do what God’s Word says, and your life—even in the midst of storms—will be blessed by the Lord. God’s Word is given to us to bless us, not restrict us. Let us be swift to hear it, and do what it says.

Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, S.C.

[i] Judith Viorst, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Hartford, Conn.: Connecticut Printers, pp. 1, 23.

[ii] Max Lucado. The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible. Nashville: Tomas Nelson Publishers, 2010, p. 1709.

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