SHAPE UP OR SHIP OUT!

Hot-tempered people tend to do a lot of damage. They charge into disputes like crazy bulls, shouting and accusing, before they find out all the facts.

The question is, does God want us to be instant righters of all wrongs? The answer is NO.

God Himself is not an instant righter of all wrongs.

God is a slow reactor, usually. By our standards, He sometimes takes ages to do anything.
He waited 120 years before He sent the world-wide flood. He waited 400 years before He sent Israel into Canaan, after keeping them in the wilderness for 40 years, and training Moses for another 40.

He left Jerusalem unrebuilt for many years before He sent the Jewish exiles back, to start the job.

He waited 70 years before He sent the Roman armies to destroy the Jewish nation after they rejected their Messiah. In the case of the wicked king Manasseh, He waited 55 years before he punished this man. Since Jesus died for the world, God has waited nearly 2000 years . . . but we know He will one day send Jesus to judge and restore the Earth.

From Scripture we learn that:
God is PATIENT
God is LONGSUFFERING
God is MERCIFUL

2Peter 3:19 tells us:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise . . . but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

James tells us that we should be "quick to hear" (1 :19) which means to be a 'good listener', and having heard all the facts we should be careful, and thoughtful, in what we say in reply. This may not sound very deep or amazing as far as advice goes, but if more people practised it, there would be a lot more communicating, and a lot less conflict.