“Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger” (James 1:19b).

We would do well to heed this exhortation from James, not letting our anger control our words. After all, fools speak quickly out of the overflow of their emotion, letting rashness instead of reason rule their words.

It is for this reason that we find these twin truths in Proverbs 26:4–5: “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him. Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes.” This means that we ought not to respond rashly or out of anger, but calmly and out of love.

Think about the way words are used during a political election. It is easy to get caught up in a flow of emotion and speak before thinking, ignoring the fact that there are two sides to any argument. But God calls us to be peacemakers, and a large part of that involves submitting our words to Him.

We truly begin to walk in wisdom when our speech demonstrates self-control. Wisdom invites us to trust God with our speech, asking for the help of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Let us, then, be living epistles that proclaim love, kindness, and joy.

Watch more videos from Ken’s Sunday morning class.

The Proverbs transcripts used in this video are available online.