Listening well is a skill that’s easily taken for granted. You hear things all day long, but it doesn’t mean you’re listening. Husbands are frequently, often accurately, accused of failing to listen to their wives. Students figure out how to pay just enough attention to respond to questioning teachers and parents of four-year-olds perfect the ability to reply with uncommitted “uh-huh’s” all day long. I once had a big idea about how to realign portions of my organization to streamline work processes and improve accountability. 90 seconds into my pitch, my boss’s eyes wandered toward the scrolling photos of his screensaver. He interrupted me to point out his admiration of a vintage pickup truck before the photo rotated out of view. I stared at him momentarily and then thanked him for his time.
You don’t have to be a Christian to value a quality listener. To that end, there are numerous articles or training courses to help you become an “active listener.” According to the Harvard Business Review, active listening involves paying attention explicitly and implicitly. It includes staying calm, being compassionate and demonstrating physical cues consistent with that attention.
The Bible’s version of this is James 1:19 which reads, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” It might be a familiar one, but you may not have considered some of its implications. The subsequent verse goes, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
Follow the reverse-engineering of those verses. The Word of God is “implanted” as it is delivered from the pulpit. That word is to be received with meekness, which is to say with an attitude of humility and submission. This is the opposite of the selfish disposition that bears itself out in “filthiness and wickedness.” To receive the word in meekness is to be the kind of person that does not get angry at what is said, is not calculating a rebuttal to the teaching and demonstrates an eagerness to hear, understand and learn.
This puts James 1:19 in a new light. As to being “slow to speak,” it would be unusual for someone in the congregation to speak during a sermon but pause to consider your mindset when Scripture is read, the moments preceding the sermon and your thoughts during its delivery. Do you have a James 1:19 attitude toward the seed of the word that is being spread? Is it able to be implanted in you due to your meekness? In Psalm 119 alone the psalmist uses the phrase “teach me” eleven times! Teach me your statutes, teach me your law, teach me good judgment and knowledge and teach me your rules. In a worship service are these the words that pass your lips or the thoughts that cross your mind?
Think back to the attributes of a good listener. The most significant among them is that the hearer is actually paying attention. In the context of a church service that happens when you are physically present, arrive with enough time to settle down before it begins, reduce external distractions, stay awake and discipline your mind from wandering. It also includes praying the Lord would grant you meekness and asking the Spirit to work effectively through the minister.
Family, health and transportation issues are just a few of the reasons that preplanning is required to accomplish that goal, but your God, your church family and your ability to effectively worship are worth it. Take the time to think about how you can be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry in your role as a church member. As far as it is up to you, determine how you can be in the best possible position to receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your soul.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (Jn. 4:23–24)