Good Listening, Gracious Responding
God wants His people to be good listeners (Phil 2:4, NLV) who normally prefer to listen than to speak (Jas 1:19, PEB). Jesus, the Messiah, was said to be a good listener (Isa 50:4). Good listening starts with listening to God as our first priority. This is part of why it is difficult to be a good listener (Prov 18:4, NCV). So often, we don’t like to listen to the Lord because He may require of us something we don’t want to do.
When we are able to listen effectively, we can better determine when to speak (Eph 4:29, CEV; Isa 50:4, LXX), what to say (Prov 10:32, CEV), and how to say it (Prov 4:24, CW). Then, we will speak cautiously (Prov 21:28, LXX) without profanity (Eph 4:29, NLT; Col 3:8, PEB). In addition, we will normally avoid yelling (Eph 4:31, CEV) and the kind of wordiness that inevitably leads to sin (Prov 10:19). Furthermore, responses after good listening are more likely to convey grace to the hearers – and it is by grace that we make progress (Prov 13:17, LB). That should be our goal in all our communication.
Finally, when we are humble enough to be willing to carefully listen to another, our responses are likely to be brief (Prov 10:19). Our responses may be as simple as saying ‘Rabboni!’ to seeing the risen Lord Jesus. After all, there is often little to say in a truly profound moment. Yet, the little that may be said becomes worthy of being preserved in the memories of others – much as Mary’s response was deemed worthy of being put in the Bible and read by billions of people. Similarly, the person who spoke at Gettysburg prior to Abraham Lincoln spoke for about 2 hours. Lincoln spoke for 2 minutes. Few could even name the person who spoke before Lincoln, with even fewer remembering anything he said. Lincoln’s few words, though, have lived on. There are times, such as when we are teaching, that it could be best to say a lot (Acts 20:7) but this would typically not be true in normal conversation.
Loving trust is more important than mere head knowledge.