19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Learn to Listen, not lash back. Do not respond with revenge, but righteousness. Therefore... meaning the next statement connects: get rid of sinful actions and the motives behind them, replacing them with actions becoming truth from God's Word. We learn to listen to others, and respond appropriately, as we learn to listen to God, receiving what he instructs, and the reasoning behind it. Often we separate what comes next into its own little category, but it is also connected: But... be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Listening is far more than physically hearing. Anyone can hear God's Word online, at church, or in a multitude of settings in our day, but true listening is like looking intently into the mirror at our thoughts, our motives and actions in light of what God says. When we have learned to listen, we begin to change, and if we've ceased to change, we've stopped listening, and need to learn to listen all over again. Let's not be like the self-righteous rich young leader who said: "all these things I have done since my youth." Let's be those who are learning to listen, looking at ourselves through the lens of God's Word, then living it out, over and over again.
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