"SLOW TO SPEAK!"

James 1:19-21                             (ESV)

"19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let EVERY PERSON be quick to hear, "SLOW TO SPEAK", slow to anger;

20 FOR THE ANGER OF MAN DOES NOT PRODUCE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.

21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive WITH MEEKNESS the IMPLANTED WORD, which is able to save your souls."

There is something to be said for being BOLD and and speaking TRUTH to those who will listen!  In 2 Corinthians 3 the Apostle Paul talks about not being like Moses when he put a veil over his face before addressing the nation of Israel.  But a few verses later, in Chapter 4, Paul writes that, in the case of some, the world has been blinded to the truth and they can't SEE or UNDERSTAND TRUTH because the prince of this world has blinded them.  

JESUS said in John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the TRUTH, and the life."  Personally I want everyone to know the TRUTH that I have come to know, the TRUTH that gives joy and peace without measure!  No matter how much we love a person and want them to come to the same saving knowledge of JESUS CHRIST that we know, scripture says in John 6:44 that "NO ONE can come to me unless the FATHER who sent me DRAWS HIM. And I will raise him up on the last day."  We can't force someone to see TRUTH, only pray that the TRUTH will be revealed to them.   

Knowing when to SPEAK WITH BOLDNESS and when to be "SLOW TO SPEAK" is something that GOD is still teaching me!  Maybe it is the HEART that GOD is most concerned with?  If I speak in anger, I probably need to be slower to speak!  If I am speaking out of love and compassion for a persons eternal condition, being BOLD may be called for?  Knowing whether to SPEAK WITH BOLDNESS or to be "SLOW TO SPEAK" can only come from the Spirit of GOD.  The same GOD who wants us to SPEAK WITH BOLDNESS desires for us to, at times, be "SLOW TO SPEAK".  

Being led by the Spirit of GOD should be the desire of every believer.  For me, being "SLOW TO SPEAK" has always been one of GOD's biggest challenges!  GOD has a way of displaying HIS omnipotence in ways that words cannot describe.  There are something's we simply do not have the vocabulary to describe.  GOD is awesome like that.  Yet, HIS word tells us in Romans 10:17 that "...faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of CHRIST".  We need to share the riches of GOD to a lost and dying world, but we must wait for the Spirit of GOD to lead us.  Being "SLOW TO SPEAK" means WAITING upon HIM!