As I observe the speed limit of 60 miles per hour on our I-10 freeway here in El Paso, I also observe other folks who are seemingly obsessed with speed. They swiftly pass my vehicle at speeds that have to be exceeding 75-80 miles per hour.This “fast” mindset, however, is getting us nowhere (except perhaps to an early grave).
In his book entitled, “In Praise of Slowness,“ author Carl Honoré tells us that, “The time has come to challenge our obsession with doing everything more quickly — speed is not always the best policy.”
The inspired writer, Peter agrees. He warned that in the last days, people would doubt the Lord, because it seemed to them that He was slow [slack – KJV] in fulfilling His promise to return. However, he points out that this “seeming slowness” [longsuffering] is a good thing, for the Lord’s desire is to allow folks more time to repent (2 Peter 3:9).
As followers of Christ, we must be “slow” to become angry and “slow” to speak (James 1:19). James tells us that our “quickness” should be reserved only for our ears — we’re instructed to be “quick” to listen. Just think how much trouble we could avoid, if we would just learn to truly “listen” to the person that is speaking to us before we speak — and that’s including God (cf. 1 Samuel 3:9-10).
Beloved, in our rush to meet goals and deadlines, let us remember to “speed up” our listening and “slow down” our tempers and our tongues (Ephesians 4:26; cf. Psalm 37:8; Proverbs 10:19).
Let’s slow down the pace!
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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