The customer service representative to whom you are talking tells you something that you did not want to hear. How you respond is your choice. A driver cuts right in front of you so that you have to brake hard. How you respond is your choice. Your boss takes someone else’s word about a situation over yours and then unjustly punishes you. How you respond is your choice. Your spouse quips back at you with a not-so-pleasant tone. How you respond is your choice.
Sometimes our emotions (or we could use the word “tempers”) get stirred up and certain words and/or actions come to mind of how we would really like to respond in that moment. But our emotions or our hurt feelings or our perception of injustice are no excuse for not exercising patience (1 Cor. 13:4; Col. 3:12) and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23; 2 Pet. 1:6). “Everyone” in James 1:19 includes you—“But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.” God has “given us a spirit of…discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7)—it is up to us to exercise it.
The next time someone upsets you, remember that how you respond is your choice!
