actions speak volumes

when i was a child my father once told me to "do as he said, not as he did" - needless to say i was very confused. over time, it got me thinking that many in the church have the same idea, "do as we say, not as we do." because, wheile many speak of love, few show it; while many speak of caring, few do it; while many talk about frogiveness, few do it; and the list is endless. many call this "the fallen world" reality, but i just can't buy that pitch. you see, when we are in christ we desire strongly to "do" and not talk about out faith - we realize that being in faith is actually a verb, and action call. john knew this when he wrote:

"My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. 19This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. 20It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves." [1 john 3:18-20 - the message]

the idea is that we express love everyday, not just when it works for us. if we live in love, we show the world we live in christ. the key is to pick a time to just say, "from this point foward i desire to show love to all people" and then do it.