The Word We Don't Want to Hear

Think of the last time someone told you something you didn't want to hear. Maybe a friend, a spouse, a parent, or an older Christian who cared enough to say it out loud. What happened inside you in the first ten seconds?

For most of us, the answer comes quickly. We had a reply loaded before they finished the sentence. We were already explaining, and if they kept going, we felt our faces heat up. James saw that coming a long time ago:

*My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness,* James 1:19-20.

Look at the two things he tells us to slow down. Speaking and anger. Those happen to be the very reactions that show up when a hard word arrives. James knew the moment we're most likely to stop listening is the moment we most need to keep going.

All month we've been in a series called *Words That Build*, drawn from Ephesians 4:29: *No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.*

We've talked about where good words come from and what a careless tongue can do. This Sunday, we'll turn the conversation around and look at the other side. Every word spoken lands in someone's ear. A builder can set the stone, but someone has to receive it.

We'll spend the morning in James 1:19-25. James gives us one of the most searching pictures in the New Testament there: a man who looks in a mirror, sees exactly what's wrong, and walks out the door without doing a thing about it. James has a name for hearing without doing: *deceiving yourselves*. Then he holds out a promise to the one who keeps looking and lets what he sees change him.

If listening is so plainly good for us, why is it so hard? Scripture has a good deal to say about pride, about weariness, and about our habit of drifting toward the voices that only tell us what we'd like to hear. Proverbs doesn't soften any of it. *The wounds of a friend are trustworthy,* Proverbs 27:6.

We'll spend some time on what it looks like to grow into a person who can hear. David prayed for that kind of heart, and his prayer is worth borrowing. Then we'll go to John 6, where a crowd heard something hard from Jesus and walked away, and Peter gave an answer that every Christian ought to know by heart. We'll close where the series began, in Ephesians 4:29. The grace in that verse goes *to those who hear.* God has put people in our lives who carry it to us. Sunday is about learning to let it in.

Read James 1:19-25. Then read Psalm 141:5 and let its last line percolate in your mind for a minute. Think of one person who has told you the truth when it would have been easier to say nothing. If you can, thank them before Sunday. Then come be with us. Bible class is at 9:30 and worship at 10:30. If you've never visited Cornerstone, this would be a good morning to start. You'll be welcome here.