16. Do You Need Rapid Responses
Elite troops and emergency services personnel are judged by how quickly they respond to emergencies, presidents are often judged on how quickly they respond to crises, companies are judged on how quickly they respond to customer service requests, and kids are often judged by their peers on how quickly they respond to computer game prompts. In the age of now, speed is king in many areas of life and rapid responses are desired everywhere.
Unfortunately, fast reflexes and rapid responses are not always good things. When it comes to character and personality traits in everyday life, rapid responses are often counterproductive and harmful. That's something that is stressed time and again in the Book of Proverbs – the Bible's book of distilled wisdom for everyday living. Notice these few examples:
"To answer before listening…is folly and shame" (Proverbs 18:13). "...one who acts hastily sins" (Proverbs 19:2b HCSB). "…haste leads to poverty" (Proverbs 21:5). "Don't take a matter to court hastily" (Proverbs 25:8a HCSB). "Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool..." (Proverbs 29:20). It can be a valuable study to look through the verses mentioning "haste" and "hurry" in Proverbs, but it's not just that biblical book that decries hasty thoughts, words and deeds. Notice what the apostle James says in the New Testament: "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (James 1:19 NKJV).
Why is this – why does the Bible so often condemn rapid response behavior? The answer is simply because our first reactions are almost always our most human ones – the ones based in our own human nature; and as a result, our rapid responses can sometimes be rabid responses! (Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 15:19).
The right response often needs time for us to get over our primary emotional reaction – time to get our brain in gear and to remember our training and the principles we have learned of God's way of life. It's only then, after we have taken the seconds, minutes or even hours we may need to arrive at an appropriate response, that we can be confident that our reaction is the right one – and in most of our interactions with others, a right response is better than a rapid response every time.
So take heart – even if you don't have the super-fast response times of an action movie hero or a game console warrior – you may be better off with slower responses! In fact, it can often be a good decision to leave rapid responses to those who need them in their work. In our own personal lives we need right responses so much more!