1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
So, let’s say a man has two sons. he went to the first asked him to do some chores, wash the dishes or sweep the floors or something. This son said he didn’t have time and had to do something else (play Halo or something probably). The father then asked the other son to do the chores and he replied, ‘Yes! Of course.’ Instead of doing the dishes and sweeping the floors, he went out with his friends to see the new Star Wars movie. Later, the first son saw the saw the stacks of dishes and dust bunnies in the corners and got to work cleaning the house. Which son showed love? Which obeyed the father? (I realize I just plagiarized Jesus’ parable, so check out the original in Matthew 21:28-32) The way this story is set up, it’s pretty clear the son that did the work was the one who showed love for the father. Love can not be purely a spoken emotion, it has to be acted out. The temptation I face with this verse is to turn it into the poorly understood quote “Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words.” Showing love does not exclude the use of language, rather it requires us to speak love in truth. How are we loving others if we do not proclaim the truth? The danger is to take things to extremes, either just doing good works without saying anything, or just preaching at people without lifting a finger. Yesterday, I said love includes sacrifice of time and energy, this may be doing things for people or listening to them and entering into their world. Christ did this for us. We have in the Bible, Christ’s words of love and truth. We can read about how he entered into people’s worlds and confronted them with truth. We see His great act of love on the cross. How can we follow His example? How can I practice righteousness by actions of love for my brothers?
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