YELLOW LIGHT/GREEN LIGHT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

James 1:19-20

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In nearly every country one might drive in, there are traffic signals that are universal, having a language of their own transmitted by color.

Green means go.

Yellow means proceed but with caution.

Red, of course, means to stop.

This collection of colors and their associated meanings are often used as an analogy for making other important points. Today’s message, titled “Yellow Light/Green Light” is one such example as we continue to examine text found in the first chapter of James. Look again at these words here:

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Vv. 19-20

In regard to our behavior as Christians, these words take on critical meaning as we seek to live as God intends for us to live and that is to be a model of Jesus’ conduct when He walked this earth more than 2,000 years ago. James, the author of this letter, implores his “dear brothers and sisters”, the Hebrew Jesus believers, to adopt the following conduct:

1. Be quick to listen.

This is a “green light” command, but one that calls us to restraint as well.

For we are to be “quick to listen” which means we need to shout down our minds and mouths so to be ready to fully receive and understand what someone else is saying to us. If you rearrange the letters in the word “listen”, you get another word “silent”. Don’t think the Lord did this by accident. The best listeners silence themselves and respect what the other person is saying. There will always be ample chance to talk when it’s your turn to.

2. Be slow to speak.

How many times have you spoken without thinking first and gotten yourself in trouble?

I know I have, more times that I would like to confess and this is why we find this “yellow light” caution in the scriptures.

The truth is that we all can find ourselves guilty of speaking too quickly without first stepping back and thinking about our words first, and even more so, consulting the Lord and asking Him to provide the words to say. For if we allow Him to drive how and when we speak to others, we can always be sure we are talking in His perfect time using His perfect words.

3. Be slow to become angry.

Here’s we find our final exhortation and it’s definitely another “yellow light” command.

Too often, we react badly to our circumstances such as when someone wrongs us or we find ourselves in disagreement with another or others.

Unfortunately, we encounter a lot of people in our society with very short fuses, both in person and online. It’s not only important to not be counted in that number but to show restraint when it comes to responding in kind. As they say, “two wrongs don’t make a right” and angry situations can either escalate or diffuse depending on how we respond to someone in midst of their anger. While the world would urge people to respond in kind, the Lord would call for us to be peacemakers and we can do just that when we invoke the Spirit of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, into these matters.

Ultimately, the end goal in the way we live out this life the Lord has blessed us with is to bear the fruits of righteousness in everything we do, the righteousness “that God desires”. We can do so, not just in upholding these “yellow light/green light” orders but also in allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us to the following defining life principles found in Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia. In the fifth chapter, God speaks these words through His apostle to us:

“...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Vv. 22-23

Let’s “green light” all of these, making them a priority as we drive through life each day on the way to the blessed eternal life that our Father God promised us through our belief in Christ Jesus, His Son.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.