Don't Just Talk the Talk; Walk the Walk

“As the body without the spirit is dead so faith without deeds is dead.” – James 2:26

Growing up, I attended a private Christian school, the same one that our children have attended for their entire childhoods. When I was in high school, our football coach was also my Bible teacher. One of his favorite sayings was one that he shared with both his football players and his Bible students: “Don’t just talk the talk; walk the walk.” In other words, you can talk all day long, but if you don’t back it up by your actions, it means nothing. It applies to football and it applies to our walk with Jesus.

I am a preacher’s kid, and my dad also had a saying that I heard quite often: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Simple meaning – you can recite the Bible backwards and forwards and have every theology degree under the sun. However, if you don’t understand that Jesus came to this earth because of his great love for us, died for us when he had done nothing wrong and then was resurrected to life by the power of the Almighty God to give us hope of living forever; if you don’t love the way Jesus did when he was here on this earth by giving of yourself and your possessions to those who truly are in need; if you don’t choose to forgive people close to you when they have done you wrong, even when they don’t deserve it; if you ignore all of these things yet walk in the church building doors every Sunday, no one will care. God tells us in the above scripture that we need to put our faith into action and SHOW others that we love Jesus. If we don’t show our faith in God’s power by our daily actions, no one will care if we say we are Christians. If we truly love Jesus and appreciate his sacrifice, we will live our life in a sacrificial way.

Start today with a simple random act of kindness. Give a warm greeting to that person you’ve been avoiding recently. Buy a coworker a soft drink at your break without expecting anything in return. Bite your tongue before joining the conversation about someone who annoys you. See how you are blessed by these very simple but conscious acts. Then build on it each day this week. See how you and your relationships will be blessed by the time you get to the weekend. Have a wonderful week!