My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. (James 1:19-25)

The Bible tells us the story of God’s mighty acts in the unfolding of covenant history. As one revelation in two testaments the Bible reveals God’s will and the sweep of God’s redeeming work. (OWBTG 33)

The thing about James is that he gets to the point. It’s pretty simple by his reckoning. When it comes to the Word, there are three easy steps to follow. Stop talking, start listening, and do something with what you hear.

Stopping is no easy task, though, is it? It’s not just talking that we’re guilty of. It’s a chatter of constant activity. Some of that is words—but more so it’s movement. It’s our lips moving, our fingers moving, our feet moving, our cars moving, our lives moving: everything moving. Fast. Constantly on the go. Tackling to-do lists and leisure activities, assignments and social engagements. It’s a cultural problem. We work more and sleep less than any other developed nation in the world, second only to the US. And so S-T-O-P-I-N-G takes a great work of cross-cultural slow down: fighting our own feelings of getting left out and left behind in order to keep the boundaries we’ve been called to and take our place as creatures rather than gods of our own making. It’s hard, but it’s necessary if we are to hear the word and do it. So, first things first—you’ve got to stop.

Listening is also hard though. There are a million voices, videos, pictures, and messages flying our way in a myriad of formats. The built world of infrastructure, technology, and architecture tell us who we are and what to do. So do schools, advertisers, and governments. So do friends, family, and influencers. Of course, God does too: but his voice is still, small, and easily drowned out by the others. That’s why we need to stop: but listening takes more than that. It’s an act of focused attention—of cutting through the distractions of the heart and mind long enough to attend to God and what he is saying to us. But listening also takes longer than that. It’s not enough to focus in and hear God in the moment: we’ve got to hold on to what we’ve heard and remember it through the day and week! Our focus and attention have to carry on such that the word works through and transforms our habits of attention throughout our lives!

These are the pre-conditions of Christian action though. That might sound strange, because if we’re anything, we’re doers! But without stopping our doing long enough to listen, the doing we do is our own alone. In order for the Word to flow through our lives (and not just our own ideas of helping others and being good people), we have to stop and we have to listen so that God’s will and work are done on earth, and not just our own.