Actions Speak Louder Than Words!

“I'm sorry, the nice things you said earlier are now being drowned-out by the volume of your contrary actions...” Actions speak louder than words...Do you know this saying?

Sadly this can be an experience many of us endure, and it smells of hypocrisy.

We live in a day-and-age when for most people, image and one's exterior is EVERYTHING!

We all know what posts score the most likes; Family-time pictures, along with 'body transformation' ones, and posts of oversees trips or shopping sprees...

Sadly we live in a love-deprived world that works so hard to manufacture LOVE!

We desperately try to manufacture love, creating our own 'perfect' life so that we get the praise for having a great, and successful life...Yet God is LOVE.

Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't strive to love one another...that's a 'no-brainer'! What I am saying, is when we try to take God's place and manufacture our own love, we fall extremely short. We are NOT God and God alone is LOVE.

I believe this is a real problem for even Christians, and is one I don't hear spoken of very much.

I know a Christian man who wrote about his deceased wife, saying that all she focused upon was presenting a 'picture-perfect' image of herself and family to other people. To do so, she constantly posted pictures online which depicted such, however sadly in real life, she was nothing like what she posted. This woman became obsessed with her image and was seeking validation from others by creating her own 'perfect life'. Frequent cosmetic surgery and being a tiny-size became a must...

I wonder, am I guilty of trying to project a 'perfect-life' in order to produce my own version of love?

The love I see that we produce, is one that is ultimately selfish and we must aim to guard ourselves against this worldly imitation.

The love I see that we produce without God, is one that has a fleshly aim of gaining admiration. It is not a godly, self-sacrificing love that expects nothing in return.

The love I see that we produce when we don't stay close to God, is not brave and fearless. It does not help people repent and find salvation. It is a love that wins friends, above brothers and sisters, or encouraging others. It is shallow, and is ultimately self-serving as it makes us feel good all the time - it doesn't really cost us anything as it never challenges us, or anyone else.

Photo credit to Instagram user: @God1st_life2nd

Some days I feel tired. I am emotionally tired of fakeness...of superficial love. To be totally honest, I have thought about how easy it would be to just 'fit-in', to never challenge anyone, and have EVERYONE love me! But when I draw close to Jesus I know this is NOT the way He lived, nor commanded me to live. When I again choose Jesus over my emotions...to obey His Word above how I feel, to walk differently as His daughter, I am again strengthened.

I had a very honest chat with a young woman recently. We spoke about her fear of 'being different', even though she was a Christian. You see, our desire for relationships is a very real human need! We are made for relationship with God, and each other...Yet He must come first, and Jesus said that if the world hated Him IT WILL HATE US TOO.

Jesus also said, “What does it profit a man to gain the world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Our actions DO speak so much LOUDER than words.

We should be walking with Him so that we have His love in us, and then shine out His LOVE which is NOT like the world's...

We should aim to not have worldly love. Worldly love is a poor imitation of godly love, and is all we can offer from our flesh without Him. Worldly love comes from selfishness and fear; fear because we are afraid of not being liked if we dare to be different and selfish because we choose our own want over God. 

But the truth is He will never leave us or forsake us, and I have found that even if I do not have what I want in terms of relationships, I have what I need. I always have at least one person. So, if we find ourselves beginning to become more worldly, we can be reassured by knowing there is His grace to repent, and re-calibrate our focus and attitude once again. Do not despair, we can take time out from the world, spend time alone just with Him, to do the necessary maintenance to repair our foundation before we fall.

Our actions do speak so loudly. May they only confirm our words of genuine love, because we understand that HE is LOVE! May our prayer continue to be, "Lord more of You, and LESS of me!"

This image speaks volumes, does it not?

Credit: http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/08/09/one-photo-olympics-sums-everything-wrong-society/
"Rio de Janeiro is an increasingly troubled city, known for its sprawling favelas, where the poor live in zinc-roofed shacks, rivaled only by the slums of India. Yet some $4.6 billion has spent already in creating the facilities for the 2016 summer olympics, which will be used for just two weeks, then forgotten, and when all other expenses are factored in, some $12 billion dollars will be spent on the show. Meanwhile, the average monthly salary in Brazil is around $778, which explains why so much of Rio is so desperately poverty-stricken."

"Father, break my heart for what breaks Yours! May my actions match my words and honour You, Melanie..."