Actions Speak Louder than Words

“Actions speak louder than words.  I can tell God that I love him until I am blue in the face but am I showing it.”  A minister said that a few years ago and it really struck me.  Actions speak louder than words.  I have used that phrase many times, usually trying to point out a fault in someone else.  But what really struck me is that I keep saying I want to change, I want to be a new creature in Christ but are they just words that I am saying?  Because my actions are not matching up to my professed desire.  For example, one day God gave me songs, phrases, scriptures and words of encouragement literally all day.  From the moment I woke up God blessed me with his word saying, “trust me.”  I felt so cared for and loved by God and told Him, "I trust you."  It took 3 seconds of overhearing a conversation to forget everything God told me all day.  My immediate response to that conversation was disgust, anger, fear and humiliation but my trust in God was nowhere to be found.  My actions did not match up to my words of, “Lord, I trust you.  I know that you have all my tomorrows in the palm of your hand.”  Of course, this whole thing got me thinking about God’s will and how I profess that my desire is to walk the path that God wants me to walk.  Is it really my desire if I keep questioning God about his will when he wants me to walk a path that I don’t like?  When I become overwrought and plead with God to choose another path because this path is hard and painful, is my desire really to do his will or are they just words I say?  God knows our hearts and our actions.  He knows when what we say with our mouth does not match up to our deeds.  God gave humans the power of choice so therefore when we choose to follow him he doesn’t all of a sudden start controlling our thoughts and actions.  He gives us the desire to purify ourselves and to live a holy life but he does not force us.  It is up to us to make our actions match up to our professed desire of being a new creature in Christ. 

I say I want to be kind, then I should just be kind.  I say that I want to trust God, then I should just trust God.  I say that I want to overcome my habits, then I should just overcome my habits.  God is not going to force me to be kind, to trust him.  He didn’t make me unkind, so why do I think it is his responsibility to make me kind?  God has always been trust worthy so he should have to work to regain my trust.  Living for God isn’t some euphoric spiritual plane where God forces us to live a certain way and our thoughts and actions do not get bogged down by the world but it is a daily choice to have our words and actions be such that they are pleasing to God.  Sometimes we just have to DO IT, God isn’t going to do it for us.