6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Christianity is about faith being expressed through love. Every person who has ever had a parent knows the importance of not just saying “I love you”, but also showing that love in actions. If words are not accompanied by actions that match the words, the words resound with a hollow thud. But if the words aren’t there something is missing as well. We need both words and actions. Our words must be living words, words that get expressed by what we do. Our children listen to what we do to a much greater degree than what we say. Our walk of faith must be both words and actions. If we have only words, we are call hypocrites. If we have only actions, no one knows what motivates our actions and those actions fall short of a harvest. Actionless words or silent actions both fall short of their intended purposes. Following Jesus requires us to live our words. When we don’t live our words, our actions betray the message. We have all known people whose lips proclaimed faith in Jesus, but the message of their actions spoke words that were louder than the vocalizations and their actions invalidated their words. If we say that Jesus cares about the poor, the widows and the downcast, and yet never do anything about the poor, the widows or the downcast, then our words are hollow. If we say that Jesus is able to bring us through any circumstance and then in the middle of a difficult circumstance we give up hope, we create a double-bind that puts into question the words we have been speaking. Which should we believe, our words or our actions? The people we admire in the faith are those whose words and actions have consistently matched. Billy Graham is one such modern man, one message in both words and actions. Oh that we would each find one such person to emulate and that we would be such a person for someone else, that we would be both a follower and a leader. The outward trappings of religiosity are not what is important. When Jesus-followers live a life of love, people will be attracted to that kind of person, thus giving a credible platform for sharing the depths of God’s love for us demonstrated in the actions of Jesus.
The Arnold Journey 