Actions speak more loudly than words!

The Lord Jesus had been speaking about His Father, and some Jews who were present, responded: "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do what Abraham did, but now you seek to kill Me, a Man Who has told you the truth which I heard from God; this is not what Abraham did." (John 8:39-40). There was a great difference between what those Jews said, and what they were doing. 

Our words, if they are to be taken seriously, must be matched by our actions. Those enemies of Jesus had closed their minds to the truth. They steadfastly refused to believe that the claims of the One Who stood before them might be valid; that He might have brought fresh truth from YHWH. They made the claim that they were Abraham's children but, as Jesus pointed out, they were not acting as Abraham did. When messengers of God went to him, he welcomed them (Gen.18). These Jews were seeking only Jesus' destruction - and they were doing so in the name of religion!

But not only did these Jews claim to be the children of Abraham; they also claimed to be the children of God! (v.41). To this, Jesus replied "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded and came forth from God; I came not of My own accord, but He sent Me." (v.42). To make loud boasts of standing in a particular relationship with Almighty God; to make fervent claims to being religious; means nothing at all unless attitudes and conduct correspond to those claims. In this the Jewish leaders failed - and failed badly!

Although the pressure of other work is slowing me down, I continue to work on the fourth volume of my book series (see the heading). It is entitled "Living the Faith", and is based on the Letter from James. That letter is full of practical advice. I write, in the introduction: 

« When we come to this letter, it should be with certain questions in our minds – questions such as, “Do my actions agree with my beliefs?” “Do I ‘practice what I preach’”?

In the letter, James shows us how we may transform our belief into behaviour; our theory into practice; and our doctrine into true discipleship. The letter is about the inter-relationship between belief and behaviour, for the true disciple of Jesus. »

Great disservice may be done to the cause of the Christ by those who profess to be His disciples, but whose deeds do not match their words. It was the American Ralph Waldo Emerson - the 19th century essayist, philosopher, and poet, who said "What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." The world will believe the message that we bring, not merely because of what we say we are, but because of what we show we are, by the way in which we live. 

I had never heard of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev until one of those who endorsed one of my books mentioned him in the endorsement. However, I discovered an interesting saying of his that it is "the extravagant acts of human love which constitute the credible currency of Christianity".

If you and I claim to be disciples of Jesus, let us be sure that our actions speak - at least as loudly as our words!