The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

James 1:19-20, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

You know this, but I’m going to say it again anyway because it’s important and because I want you to do well. Listen carefully to everything; be sure you understand what you’re supposed to. Think things through and don’t get mad and say things you’ll later regret. Besides, anger isn’t how you get this job done.

That is a modern paraphrase of what James said back in A.D. 45. It was true then and it’s been good advice for nearly 2,000 years! Wow! I hate to think of what might have happened if I’d listened to that advice many years ago. I didn’t always take the good advice I was given. Still, as the years rolled by, I saw the wisdom in those words.

When I first joined Liberty University as an online professor, the man who hired me gave me some good advice. We were encouraged to personally contact our students, but I was told, “Don’t give them your phone number or you’ll be inundated with calls.” I gave my email at the school, so as to have personal contact, but not my phone number. That gave me opportunity to think through the sometimes complicated questions students would ask before replying “off the cuff.”

There were a few –thankfully, very few—who antagonized me with their unwillingness to take “No!” for an answer. They wanted to “game the system” instead of following the clear and well-written rules. One fellow was consistently late in submitting his work and argued with my grading. His work was late because, he said, he had “so many things to do.” Then he listed them. After two or three of his emails of complaint, I was moving toward anger. However, James’ words in our verses above reminded me that anger doesn’t accomplish anything. My “no” simply meant “no,” and that was that.

We’ve all been guilty of misunderstanding things because we didn’t listen carefully. And we’ve all been guilty of speaking too quickly and too often having a “short fuse.” We just need to slow down and remember that what we’re doing is God’s work and it has to be done with love and righteousness. For those who love being angry, our being loving throws them off their game. It is then that the righteousness of God can be achieved.

May the LORD bless and use you is our prayer,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”