Tag: "Actions speak Louder than Words?"

Blessings From God’s Word: Bless Me and Revive Me, O’ God. Make Your Face to Shine Bright Upon Me, Your Servant. Psalm 119:129-136

Psalm 119:129-136 Amplified Bible

Pe.

129 
Your testimonies are wonderful;
Therefore my soul keeps them.
130 
The unfolding of Your [glorious] words give light;
Their unfolding gives understanding to the simple (childlike).
131 
I opened my mouth and panted [with anticipation],
Because I longed for Your commandments.
132 
Turn to me and be gracious to me and show me favor,
As is Your way to those who love Your name.
133 
Establish my footsteps in [the way of] Your word;
Do not let any human weakness have power over me [causing me to be separated from You].
134 
Redeem me from the oppression of man;
That I may keep Your precepts.
135 
Make Your face shine [with pleasure] upon Your servant,
And teach me Your statutes.
136 
My eyes weep streams of water
Because people do not keep Your law.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria, In Excelsis Deo, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Blessings From God’s Word …

Make your face shine with pleasure on your servant and teach me your decrees.

—  Psalm 119:135

The words of the Psalmist from verse 135 “Make your face shine on your servant” echoes the great blessing found in the High Aaronic prayer Numbers 6:24-26.

There God explains how to give his people a blessing, saying:

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Here God conveys to his people that He has turned His face upon them, sees them and promises to be gracious to them, to love and vigilantly protect them.

In our reading from the Psalms for today, the psalmist sees the light of God’s Word, and his passion for God grows, leading to a greater thirst for God’s Word.

As he reads and meditates, ponders and absorbs, the writer’s understanding of God’s love, mercy, and compassion deepens and his longing for God increases.

The intensity of his passion for God leads him even to pant for God’s Word!

Another important thing to note here is that the psalmist calls himself God’s servant.

Connecting God’s blessing with service, the psalmist reminds us that blessings do not stop when they land on our doorstep.

God blesses us—his servants—so that we can serve and be a blessing to the people around us.

Go ahead and ask God for his blessing, because God wants to bless you.

He also wants us to be keenly attentive to his Word, to praise Him, to pray and to worship Him and to learn His statutes, to revive, actively serve in his world.

Teach Me Your Statutes, O God …

God’s word is a treasure filled with fine riches that teach us about the God who created us and how to live in a way that pleases Him.

Often, we can disconnect God’s word from our lives and make reading His word a mere intellectual pursuit or religious practice.

Psalm 119 is a beautiful prayer that asks God to deeply connect the psalmist’s life with the word of God.

One of the most oft repeated phrases the psalmist passionately prays is for God to teach him to live by his statutes, which appears Psalm 119 at least ten times:

“Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!” Psalm 119:12

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Psalm 119:18

“When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!” Psalm 119:26

“Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.” Psalm 119:33 

“The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!” Psalm 119:64

“You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.” Psalm 119:68

“Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.” Psalm 119:73

“Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.” Psalm 119:124

“I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!” Psalm 119:25

“Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.” Psalm 119:135

“Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!“ Psalm 119:169

We could, would, should be all be the wiser to make these verses (and the whole psalm) an essential element of our daily prayer life, our heart cry to our Savior.

Ah, the Sweetest Mystery of Life …

Ecclesiastes 8:16-9:6Amplified Bible

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the activities [of mankind] that take place upon the earth—how some men seem to sleep neither day nor night— 17 and I saw all the work of God, I concluded that man cannot discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though man may labor in seeking, he will not discover; and [more than that], though a wise man thinks and claims he knows, he will not be able to find it out.

Men Are in the Hand of God

9 For I have taken all this to heart, exploring and examining it all, how the righteous (those in right standing with God) and the wise and their deeds are in the hands of God. No man knows whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.

2 It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers sacrifices and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as he who swears an oath is, so is he who is afraid to swear an oath. 3 This evil is in all that is done under the sun, that one fate comes to all. Also, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they go to the dead. 4  [There is no exemption,] but whoever is joined with all the living, has hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they no longer have a reward [here], for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Indeed their love, their hatred and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share [in this age] in anything that is done under the sun.

The Searcher’s claim is quite clear: life is too complicated, too vast, too filled with conflicting elements for any one of us to figure out all the answers.

Though we stay up all night and day, trying to think through and understand the complicated events that bring to pass the circumstances of our lives, we will never fully understand.

The Bible attaches no stigma to trying to understand life.

Rather, the pursuit of knowledge is everywhere encouraged in Scripture.

We must never adopt the attitude of anti-intellectualism that characterizes some segments of Christianity today.

We are to reason and think about what God is doing and what life gives us.

But we must always remember that no matter how much we try to think about life, mysteries will still remain.

We do not have enough data, nor do we have enough ability to see life in its totality to answer all the questions.

We must be content with some degree of mystery.

Though the wisest man of the ancient world wrote these words, he admits that humans cannot know all the answers.

He even says that diligence in labor will not unravel life’s mysteries: Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. 

We will still be left collectively knitting our brows, collectively scratching our heads, and asking the eternally unanswerable question: “Why, Me, Lord”?

Even when people claim to know the answers behind what happens to us, they are really only deceiving themselves.

Many people are unwilling to accept the truth of the precepts of Scripture until they can “come to fully, completely, utterly,” understand everything in it.

But if you and I are waiting for that, you will never make it -“failure to thrive” .

Although this book Ecclesiastes was written almost 2,500 years ago, it is still true, even in our age of advanced knowledge, no one can find all the answers.

We must diligently search out the statutes of God – through prayer and study.

When you and I think about our own life, about how many of the things that have happened to us have been determined by events over which we had zero control—events that had to fall together in a certain pattern before they could ever come to pass [by God’s Plan]—you, I, can see how true these words are.

No one can find out all the answers.

The sweetest mystery to life is that the destiny of our lives may all hung upon a simple decision to go or not to go to a church on a particular Sunday because we had some sort of “issue, grievance, grudge etcetera,” against the church itself.

Learning something about God’s precepts for our “Christian living” may just be revealed on that day during the course of praise, worship, reading of scripture.

We have to continuously place ourselves directly in the path of the Word of God.

We have to continuously stay passionate about letting God work in us and also through us by means of the unmatched power of His transformative Word.

How can we understand that strange merging of simplicity and complexity?

The Searcher of Ecclesiastes continuously and constantly argues that life is too complicated without the Word of God, for us ever to answer all the questions.

We will inevitably run out of brain power when, all by ourselves, we keep trying to be “a Sermon in Shoes Christian” finding our answers to the mystery of life.

Is understanding everything in Scripture necessary before accepting it as truth?

A Puzzle and a Song …

Romans 11:30-12:3Amplified Bible

30 Just as you once were disobedient and failed to listen to God, but have now obtained mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient so that they too may one day receive mercy because of the mercy shown to you. 32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all [Jew and Gentile alike].

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and decisions and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it would be paid back to him? 36 For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.

Dedicated Service

12 [a]Therefore I urge you, [b]brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be [c]transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].

3 For by the grace [of God] given to me I say to everyone of you not to think more highly of himself [and of his importance and ability] than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has apportioned to each a degree of faith [and a purpose designed for service].

I love puzzles but it bothers me and it frustrates me to no end the challenge of sitting still long enough and putting together any 1,000-piece jig­saw puzzle.

Like my wife, some people will go online, just to do the most complex Sudoku.

She has developed a system whereby she just systematically “breezes through.”

That is not me, either …

I like Sudoku … but I cannot just “breeze through” them like she does.

I watch her, admire her ability to “order and sort out” all of the numbers.

I just need take my time and pray I finish without too many mistakes.

Too many mistakes … I just shut the game down as quickly as possible.

Revealing that sometimes our puzzles can end up puzzling us.

That’s how it was for the apostle Paul.

Paul wrestled with a very personal problem.

By God’s grace he had come to know Jesus as his Savior.

As he went about doing his missionary work, many Gentiles came to faith in Jesus as Lord.

But many of his own Jewish people rejected Jesus.

It was mind boggling to him.

Were they not God’s special people chosen to share God’s love with the world?

Nevertheless, Paul was so confident of God’s great mercy he broke into song.

Paul confesses that we can never fully grasp God’s eternal plan.

Our efforts to understand God, define him, or reduce him to our level will ultimately fail.

God owes us no explanation; nor is he accountable to us—for he is God.

There is something we can do—in fact, two things.

First, Paul implies that we should keep praising God because all glory belongs to him forever.

Then Paul goes on to say that the only reasonable response to all this is to offer ourselves in complete service to God and to be completely available for his use.

Are we doing that?

By Praise and Worship, by Prayer and Meditation and Study of God’s Word,

Are we looking to God for answers to even the most uncomplicated of puzzles?

“Reviving” the “Lost Art” of “Knowing God better than we Know Ourselves?”

Do you desire to continually learn and be taught God’s word and statues?

Does your heart yearn to be taught the path of God and to fix the gaze of your heart and your soul upon Him?

How say Ye to this …?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray, ….

Lord, often we are as puzzled as the Psalmist, the Teacher and the Apostle Paul about the host of ways you deal with us. Even so, may we stand in awe of your amazing grace and respond to you with songs of praise and acts of service. Lord, cause us to continually grow in our understanding and learning of your statutes, making us wise and obedient to you. Cause us to fear your name and pursue an obedient and joyful life as Bible-saturated people who look to you for wisdom, grace, and life. Teach us your statutes and may our lives be characterized by joyful obedience to your word and by demonstrating constant dependence on you. And may you fill us ever more increasingly with your Holy Spirit, who alone, can truly teach us all your statutes.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Attitude Adjustment: Our Leaving Matters in God’s Hands. Genesis 16

Genesis 16Amplified Bible

Sarai and Hagar

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him any children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will [a]obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said. 3 After Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian [maid], and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife. 4 He went in to [the bed of] Hagar, and she conceived; and when she realized that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress [regarding Sarai as insignificant because of her infertility]. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your maid is entirely in your hands and subject to your authority; do as you please with her.” So Sarai treated her harshly and humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.

7 But [b]the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to [Egypt by way of] Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit [c]humbly to her authority.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 11 The Angel of the Lord continued,

“Behold, you are with child,
And you will bear a son;
And you shall name him Ishmael (God hears),
Because the Lord has heard and paid attention to your persecution (suffering).
12 
“He (Ishmael) will be a wild donkey of a man;
His hand will be against every man [continually fighting]
And every man’s hand against him;
And he will dwell in defiance of all his brothers.”

13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are [d]God Who Sees”; for she said, “Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after [e]seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?” 14  Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is [f]between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, [g]Ishmael (God hears). 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

The Word of God for the Children of God

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Today’s story centers on the painful triangle of relationships between Abram, Sarai, and Sarai’s slave Hagar.

The ancient story contains moral weakness, self pity, jealousy, competition, contempt, scorn, rejection, revenge, meanness, and other emotional violence.

When the situation becomes unbearable, Sarai sends Hagar to Abram that Abram should have sexual relations with her and then bear the family a child.

A child is conceived and this is where things really break down.

Hagar looks down with jealousy and contempt upon Sarai in her infertility.

What had started with Sarai good intentions, her self sacrifice to give Abram a lasting hope for the continued future of his lineage, just turned seriously sour.

Sarai blamed Abram ….

Sarai wanted maximum accountability from Abram for Hagar’s behaviors.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.” 

Abram washes his hands of the matter ….

6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your maid is entirely in your hands and subject to your authority; do as you please with her.” So Sarai treated her harshly and she humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.

But now she is in a desperate situation: pregnant and alone in the desert with barely enough provisions for survival.

It all began with a promise from God to secure Abram’s family future.

Time had lapsed and a hopeful, hope-filled promise turned into a situation of impatience and desperation, a lapse of personal faith in God to change lives.

We are greatly shocked by the sequence of events – great promise to an even greater descent into great jealously, rage, humiliation – threatening the family.

Putting the prospect of great hope in a blessed and abundant future in jeopardy.

But the one thing we notice which seems to be missing from this tragic story is anyone’s attempt to seek out God, to pray for change, courage, patience, mercy.

The one thing we do not see is any sincere desire for an “attitude adjustment.”

To caught up in their very raw emotions …. there is no offer of prayer to God.

This instantaneous moment when all Abram, Hagar and Sarai can see is each other trying to sort out an extraordinarily volatile situation by their own wills.

Was grace an unknown commodity?

Was the thought of compassion or mercy an unknown commodity lost to anger?

On the human side … very much so.

Too fast to respond with raw unfiltered emotions is all too soon our first hope, first response for lasting meaningful successful resolution to a hopeless cause.

But, what if we were to counsel these parties and try to insert a moment or two of “attitude adjustment” – set these people apart – insert another perspective?

Remind them in the midst of this, there’s grace and mercy in this raw story too.

Remind them and ourselves of the promise: the presence, sovereignty of God?

The name for God in this text draws from the Hebrew word ‘roi’, which has to do with “looking,” “appearance,” “seeing,” and “sight.”

Abram and Sarai seem to have lost their sight, vision, of God’s faithfulness.

Yet, alone and utterly forsaken in the desert—in her darkest moment—Hagar realizes that El Roi, “the God who sees,” sees her, has never lost sight of her.

Some choose to see God, envision God, prayed, inserted into their situations.

Look for hope in seemingly hopeless situations ….

Believe all things “impossible in our eyes” are always possible in God’s eyes.

Others?

Like Abram and Sarai (and perhaps us?) in that moment …. not so much ….

Don’t we all find ourselves at times in desperate situations?

Even if our circumstances are not desperate, they can certainly be difficult at times, and we can absolutely feel as if we will never have a hope for any future.

Life was harsh and difficult in those ancient of days and even today is difficult, and living in today as a Christian does not mean we are spared those difficulties.

As we will continue to confront and face illness, unemployment, heartache, broken relationships, separations and divorces and other moral challenges, we are always and forever will be confronted by this single fundamental question:

Is their an “Attitude Adjustment” anywhere in our futures?

Is there time for a “God sized” “Attitude Adjustment” anywhere in our plans?

Is God’s perspective going to be even minimally, voluntarily sought out?

Remember the faithful Promises of God for an abundant future of hope?

Not our own hope or lack of hope we exclusively reserved for ourselves?

Lose sight of God’s wisdom to know how we should respond to adversity?

Walk the narrow paths of God’s promises?

Walk the broad pathways which lead to our destruction? (Matthew 7:13-14)

Walk the path of faith or will we try to take matters into our own hands?

Abraham was a man who was just like us—he experienced both triumph and failure in his walk of faith.

God had personally promised Abram to make his family a nation and to bless the world through someone from that nation (Genesis 12:1-3).

Though childless, elderly Abraham and his wife, Sarah, would have their “very own son” who would be their heir (Genesis 15:4).

Abraham “believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” an even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive Isaac. (Hebrews 11:8-11)

But after years and years of waiting, Abram and Sarai’s faith had wavered.

They were expecting God to act in good faith, but now had grown impatient.

Presumably, on a monthly basis, their hopes would rise and collapse—and with every passing month and year, Sarah grew older, sadder, and more impatient.

So it was that they reached an explosive crisis of faith.

They knew that God is real, that God is all-powerful, and that God had promised them a son, but they also knew they both got older and didn’t yet have a son.

Would they allow the questions of their hearts to overturn their faith or would they allow their vision of faith in God to overturn the questions of their hearts?

The verses above narrate the sorry conclusion: they took matters into their own hands, and the “best” solution that they adopted was a destructive self-effort.

In doubting and despair, Sarai ordered Abram to sleep with her maid servant, Hagar, in hopes of bringing about the promised child, and Abraham complied.

Perhaps this was acceptable practice in that time and culture, based on the idea that the children of such a union would belong to the owner of the slave-girl.

Abram undoubtedly informed Sarai of God’s promise to him, and Sarai perhaps thought that this was necessary in order to bring about God’s plan for them.

Ancient and Contemporary 20/20 hindsight being what it is, always will be;

It was the wrong decision.

Doubting that God would keep His promise, they instead sought to bring it about by their own (immoral) actions.

They made their decision based on expediency.

They didn’t ask, What is right? 

They asked, What can we do for ourselves that will “work things out” for us? 

They allowed pragmatism to be their guide over and against faith—and in doing so, they brought about more suffering, more pain, and more heartache for themselves and for Hagar.

They thought intervening by their own devices and their understanding of human nature would simplify things; instead, it complicated everything.

Making Attitude Adjustment, Leaving Matters in God’s Hands

Whenever we set faith aside and apply self-effort, we complicate our lives.

Whenever we seek to take things into our own hands and make our own plans instead of trusting God to keep His promises, we end up with chaos, heartache.

Faith and waiting go hand in hand.

Do not lose heart as you sit in life’s waiting rooms.

It is always right to wait upon God, and it is always right to wait for God.

God sees and knows everything and everyone.

We do not know everything and everyone.

But we can know God more than we do now – if we want to know Him more.

If we want to surrender the sum total of who we believe we are in our eyes.

What areas of life do we need to “make adjustments” to live this out today?

But even in times of hopelessness,

can we adjust our way of thinking an believing we are each Blessedly Assured:

El Roi, “the God who sees,” is 100% watching over us, 100% seeing us, 100% protecting, 100% providing for us all in our darkest hour of need (Psalm 23)?

It is too deep in our human nature, our bleakest moments we too feel all alone.

What is my natural response?

What is your natural response?

What is our natural response?

With a bit of tweaking (attitude adjustment) by the Lord our Savior,

By God’s matchless grace, faithful mercy. one and done forgiveness and love,

What might our “God-Adjusted” responses become?

Job 19:23-27Amplified Bible

Job Says, “My Redeemer Lives”

23 
“Oh, that the words I now speak were written!
Oh, that they were recorded in a scroll!
24 
“That with an iron stylus and [molten] lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!
25 
“For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives,
And at the last He will take His stand upon the earth.
26 
“Even after my [mortal] skin is destroyed [by death],
Yet from my [immortal] flesh I will see God,
27 
Whom I, even I, will see for myself,
And my eyes will see Him and not another!
My heart faints within me.

El Roi, “the God who sees,” has never lost sight of us, promises to care for us.

Surely, the Goodness and Mercy of God do follow us all the days of our lives!

What greater, more blessed assurance can we “adjust” ourselves to believing?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 16 The Message

16 1-2 Keep me safe, O God,
    I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
    Without you, nothing makes sense.

3 And these God-chosen lives all around—
    what splendid friends they make!

4 Don’t just go shopping for a god.
    Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
    like brand-names.

5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
    And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
    And then you made me your heir!

7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
    is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
    I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

9-10 I’m happy from the inside out,
    and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
    that’s not my destination!

11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
    all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
    I’m on the right way.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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“Actions Speak Louder than Words ” True or Not True? Are Deeds a Better Sign of Love Than Words? 1 John 3:18

A godly character that reflects the likeness of Christ, is one that loves others as Christ loved us. The love about which the Bible speaks, is different from every other type of human love, and is uniquely imparted to the child of God from the indwelling Spirit of truth and love. It is comparatively easy to love in word and tongue. It is reasonably simple to say, ‘I love you’ to other people, but the test of genuine love is expressed in-deed and in truth. It is much harder to actually do!

1 John 3:18-20 The Message

When We Practice Real Love

18-20 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

True or False?

“Actions speak louder than words.”

“True or False?” “Actions speak louder than words!” These are very familiar questions and phrases and words you can and do hear from people who are in a relationship or are spoken from the hearts, mouths of people who expect other people’s affection and love. These are also the very words we will hear in our surroundings and the very thought preached in movies, books and fairytales. 

Good news is, it is not only preached in the movies we see or the books we read, but God also wants us to do this in actual practice. In our verses today, He is telling us to love not just in thoughts and words but with actions and in truth. 

The Bible is talking about so many types of love and this time God is referring to the love He gave to us— His agape love. Jesus Christ laid His own life for His friends and enemies. He sacrificed His life for us all, so we don’t have to receive God’s wrath. Therefore, it is just right and righteous for us all to do the same.

We are directed to lay down our lives to our brothers and sisters and sacrifice for them. However, though sometimes true, God does not want us to literally die for them, but He wants us to serve one another to the highest level. 

It is just very easy to say “I love you” to many people and to the people we hold most dear. It is easy to love in thoughts and in words, but the truest test of genuine love is expressed through our actions and in truth. Loving does not mean only expressing it through our feelings or words but through giving up ourselves in complete service for others, no matter what the cost is, may it be money, time, reputation, and everything we can offer. (John 19:30, Acts 3:1-10)

An act of true love should be like the love of Jesus. It is all about “dying to self” and “living in Christ”. The love of Jesus is the complete and perfect example of loving in deeds and in truth and as we receive this love, this will manifest in our lives, and we will be able to actually reveal it, genuinely show it to others too. 

To love in words and in thoughts means expressing how much we love that specific person, but it should be accompanied with actions and truth. It can never be true if it is without action. For our true love can only be found in our Savior Jesus, now, we can also give this love to others through Him. As the Bible said, this saving faith we have can produce good deeds. By Grace, we are saved through faith and with this it can produce good works. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Through this good work that is produced by our faith in Jesus Christ, it will mirror His love and we will be able to shine it onto others too. For in the book of Romans said that we are living sacrifices, and this is our true act of worship.

Therefore, as we worship the Lord, let us also become like Lady Wisdom people who have mirrored God’s love unto the people who have not known, nor have they seen yet what God has in store for their whole lives. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)

However, let us always remember we can never do this no matter how hard we try. We can never give what we do not have, and we can never give this through our own finite stores of strength. So first, we must be able to recognize where this unconditional love came from and submit everything to Jesus and through this, we will, with continuous, continual practice, will soon be able to love the grand diversity of people around us not just in words but in actions and truth. 

Living in spirit, loving and moving in spirit, in truth, in-deed is a manifestation of someone who died from self-preservation nature has become made new in Christ. It is true evidence of someone who lives in Christ and abides with Him. 

Are Deeds a Better Sign of Love Than Words?

The same apostle who said, “Let us not love in word or talk but in-deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18), also recorded Jesus saying, “These things I speak . . . that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13), and “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

If the “speaking” of Jesus imparts joy, and the “words” of Jesus give spiritual life, then surely such speaking is love.

It has always troubled me that 1 John 3:18 could also easily be taken to imply that what we do with our mouths is a less real or less frequent form of love than what we do with our hands. “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in-deed and in truth.” It seems to me that we each have practical and biblical reasons for saying that the muscle of the tongue is much more frequently the instrument of true love than any other muscle throughout the entire body.

So, let’s step back and see what John is saying in 1 John 3:18 and to take some quality time to examine and discover what the wider witness of Scripture is.

Notice the context, the structure of his words, and what other witnesses say.

1. The Context

The preceding verses give us a clue what John means:

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? (1 John 3:16–17)

Sometimes, as on an actual battlefield, in an actual combat situation, if it comes down to choosing your life over my life, and I take the bullet meant for someone else, and I am actually wounded or even killed, no demonstration of friendship, or exercise of truest love, could ever possibly be greater. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Then John draws out a principle of love which is more pervasive and less dramatic: “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” In other words, true love not only gives its life for the loved ones, but also its goods.

This is what James was saying: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15–16). This is what John is criticizing: Saying, “Be warmed and be filled,” but giving no food and clothing when you have them to give?!? NO!

So, the first thing John has in mind is people who say they love others, but when it comes down to practical sacrifices, and actual and genuine acts of self-denial, they do not do them. That’s what John means by loving “in word or talk.” It’s not real, its only superficial lip service. Deeds of sacrifice validate words of love.

2. The Structure of His Words

But there are even more clues. You can’t see this one in the English translation, but the contrasting pairs of words (“word or talk” vs. “deed and truth”) are not exactly parallel. The first two are dative, and the second two are objects of the repeated preposition ‘en‘. Hence literally what is being said here is this: “Little children, let us not love by word or by talk but in-deed and in truth.”

The difference may be incidental. Or perhaps there is a sound theological reason for it: “Let us not think nor believe of love as only the actions of instruments like tongues and the guttural sounds, they make (words). Let us rather think and believe of love as a reality that is happening in our deeds and in truth.”

In other words, love can never be reduced to sounds (words) or muscle movements (whether the tongue or any other muscle). Rather, love is always something real within and beneath those actions. Something true.

That’s why Paul said, “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love . . .” (1 Corinthians 13:3). Deeds by themselves are never love. Never. Love is “in” the deeds. So, John’s point is: Don’t identify love with words or tongue-acts. Love is deeper. It is active in muscle actions but is never identical with such instruments. The words, “in truth,” push the issue deeper.

But even more important than the grammar is the surprising contrast between “tongue” and “truth.” “Little children, let us not love by word or talk but in deed and in truth.” We expect the contrast between “word” and “deed.” But not “talk” and “truth.” We might have expected something like “not by talk but by hand.”

The simplest lesson to draw from this is: Don’t make loving promises with your tongue that don’t come true in actual “in the moment” reality. If you say you are going to come to help, come. The promise is encouraging, therefore loving. But encouragement dies when you don’t show up. Tell the truth. Love in truth.

A second lesson to draw from the contrast between tongue and truth is that truth itself is a wonderful gift. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Speaking the truth to others, whether they like it or not, is a great gift. “The words that I have spoken to you are . . . life” (John 6:63). That was true for Jesus and for the apostles: “Speak to the people all the words of this Life” (Acts 5:20).

Which means that when the tongue and its sounds (words) are “in truth,” they become acts of love. The line of lovelessness is not drawn between speaking and doing, but between speaking and doing in the truth, and speaking and doing in emptiness. Truth turns word-love into deed-love.

3. What Other Witnesses Say

The concern I raised at the beginning was that 1 John 3:18 could also be taken to imply that what we do with our mouths is a less real or less frequent form of love than what we do with our hands and feet. I don’t believe John was saying that.

Here is how real and frequent and important mouth-love is.

With the mouth everlasting joy is imparted:

“These things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” (John 17:13)

With the mouth faith is awakened:

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

With the mouth courage imparts profitable things:

“I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable.” (Acts 20:20)

With the mouth blessing comes:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. (Romans 12:14)

With the mouth grace is given:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up . . . that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29)

We will be judged according to our mouth-deeds as much as by our hand-deeds:

“On the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36–37)

Two Ways we tend to Get it Wrong

When John says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth,” he does not diminish the reality or frequency or importance of loving with our words.

In fact, even though the most dramatic and decisive expression of love may be the deep sacrifices we make for those we love, two things remain true.

One is that there are sacrifices which have ulterior motives and are not real love (again, 1 Corinthians 13:3 says, “If I deliver up my body to be burned . . .”). Love is not identical to deeds. Ever. It is always “in” the deeds, or not.

The other is, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

Therefore, the most frequent witness to the love of our hearts is what comes out of our mouths.

In this sense, our words are deeds. And God knows when they are true.

But let us never treat the mouth-deed or the hand-deed with neglect, or preference. Many fails as lovers by thinking they can replace words with deeds. And many fail, thinking words are enough. Rather let us always think: Both! Both word and work! Mouth-work and handwork! Both!

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. (Colossians 3:17)

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience — by word and deed. (Romans 15:18)

May God . . . comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17)

Living, Loving and actually moving forth in spirit, in word, in deed, and in truth is evidenced in, evidenced through, the life of one who has died to the self-life, abides in Christ, and is able to say with the apostle Paul, “It is not I that live my life, but Christ, whose life is in me and living through me.”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You that I am Your child and that Christ died to pay the price for my sin. Thank You that He rose again so that I could become a new creation in Christ, receiving my new life in Him. May the love of the Lord Jesus so flood and fill my being, that it not only flows out to others in thought and word, but in spirit, in truth, and in my every action and attitude. This I ask in Jesus’ name, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

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