Actions and Thoughts…Not Just Words
People have a tendency to say things that they don’t mean. We say we’re sorry when the last thing in the world we want to do is apologize, we say it’s not a big deal when inside we’re fuming, and we say thank you for a gift even when we hate it. As far as the world is concerned, it’s not a big deal. As far as God is concerned, it’s a huge deal. Our words need to line up with our actions and our thoughts. If our thoughts are wrong, we need to change them rather than lying. The Bible says we need to have clean hands and a pure heart, if we have that, then our words will line up with what we do. We can’t say one thing and do or think another.
Love is probably the most repeated example of needing actions more than words in the Bible. John, in 1 John 3:16-18, says that we need to show love in our actions, not just in words. Words without actions are meaningless. He uses the example of Jesus showing His love for us by dying for us. How many of us would be willing to die for someone we loved? It’s a cliché question that’s very easy to say yes to since most of us will never be in a position like that, but seriously think about it. Could you?
Not only are our actions supposed to match up with our words, but our thoughts are sometimes more important than our actions. Jesus teaches that if we hate someone in our hearts to the point we want to kill them, it’s the same thing as murder. He taught that lust in our heart was the same thing as adultery. John teaches in 1 John 3:10-15 that if we hate a fellow Christian, we’re living in darkness and we’re a murderer. These are all pretty strong statements, we need to be very careful about what we think. If there is someone that we hate, we need to talk to them; to work things out, rather than building up resentment. The more we dwell on how much we hate something or someone, the more likely we are to slip and sin. It’s never alright to hate a person. We’re all sinners, saved by grace. If they’re doing something wrong in their lives, we need to pray for them, and be there for them, but never hate them. How about us? Is there someone in our lives that we’re mad at? Someone who did something wrong towards us? We need to forgive them, let go of our hate or anger, and move on.
It’s difficult to change our thoughts . It’s difficult even more sometimes to show the actions that go along with what we claim to believe. But, with God’s help, we can do it. Is there someone in your life that you’ve not been kind to because you were mad at them? Is there someone that you told you loved them, but you haven’t shown it? If so, pray, and go change the way you’ve been doing things.
