Walking the talk

When the going gets tough, oftentimes it is hard to trust in God and to believe that He will deliver. Naturally, we are inclined to move by faith and not by sight. It is not natural for us to move and do things based on faith because faith requires us to believe in something which most of the time contradicts logic or our senses.

Faith requires us to believe in things which seem impossible or to do things which do not make sense to the natural mind. Faith requires us to go against the grain of what society considers to be normal or rational at times if not quite often.

So when we are afraid to be different for God's sake, we are being afraid to please Him for it requires faith to please Him as is written:

[6] But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6.

To please God we have to have faith. Faith is how we do His will and desire to do His will. Without it we cannot please Him or desire to please Him.

The path that we have to take on this earth as His followers oftentimes requires us to go at odds with the world or the world's ways of doing things. The more we desire to be like Him, the more likely to go against the world's way of doing things. Being selfless in this world is an example I can give of something we have been called to be by our Father, but it is increasingly being viewed as self defeating if everyone is selfish. It is even ridiculed nowadays when one looks out for others in a world where people only care about themselves and how they can gain or further their goals at the expense of others. Only by faith, however, can we be truly selfless. Sometimes it is done with a selfish motive in itself of being noticed for the "good deed" but true selflessness is only possible with a real connection to the Father

What the world considers strange is what God calls faith. Rather be called strange for the Lord's name than to be called that for other reasons, as is written:

[14] But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

[15] But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
[16] Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
[17] For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 1 Peter 3:13-17.

It is tempting to hide like Peter did when Jesus was being tortured. Of all the disciples, he had proclaimed his loyalty the loudest. But in the heat of the moment, he forsook his Master and for someone who had been so loud, it was a painful disappointment. Sometimes we can profess faith when the times are good and it is easier to do it then but when we go through trials, do we hold fast to our profession and continue to proclaim His name through our lives? When there seems to be no help in sight and you seem to be in trouble because of the very fact that you are trying to do what God would desire you to do, do you still hold on? If it brings ridicule, shame, poverty, can we still proclaim His name the same way, or will we hide or even join the persecutors in cursing His name?

Faith is easy to talk about but not to walk it. I must confess that I personally fall into this category. There are many times when I go through a test and dismally fail because I become self confident and start to trust in myself instead of God. When it counts the most I become afraid to stand up for him when I ought to, out of shame of being the odd one out or the weird one, or something. 

Like Peter there has been many times when I've said one thing and done another when it was crucial for me to back up my words with action. It is easier said than done brothers and sisters, and I don't know if you go through these situations sometimes but I definitely do. It is unfortunate because our actions speak louder than our words.

God measures us based on our actions and not on our words. Anyone can talk but it is the actions that count. It is just like a couple that are married. Either can say "I love you" all day long but love is expressed in action not in words. If they say but don't show it, then they don't mean it. Wouldn't you want for a person to actually say they "love" you and actually mean it and prove it through their actions?

It is the same for each and every one of us. We are all in a relationship with God and most of us profess to love God but that love is only and truly expressed in our lives when we do His will. Doing God's will is loving Him and so as Christians professing all day and all night, and being a self proclaimed "Jesus freak" as some call it  doesn't cut it unless you mean it and know the weight and count the cost of being His disciple.

People can know that I am a Christian and see me go to church on Saturday, but unless I actually walk the talk, it doesn't mean anything. In fact it probably does more harm to talk without walking the talk because it gives people the wrong impression of who God is. Unless I show it through my actions and daily dealings with other people, it doesn't mean anything. Paul said it well in the "Love" chapter. Even if we profess and make major sacrifices and tell ourselves that we are doing it for Him, and yet do not love our neighbor as ourselves, it is all in vain. The whole reason for faith is love. To love Him and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

1Corinthians 13

The sacrifices we do when we work to please God in our own strength 

[1] Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
[2] And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
[3] And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

What love is or what God desires us to do and it is only achievable through faith
[4] Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
[5] Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
[6] Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
[7] Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
[8] Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
[9] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
[10] But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
[11] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
[12] For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
[13] And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Even when one is truly gifted say with the gift of prophecy for example, if there is no love, it doesn't mean anything. Love is the goal. Love is God's will. Love is putting Him first and loving your neighbor as yourself. Doing His will requires faith and it is impossible to please God without it as is written:

[37] Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
[38] This is the first and great commandment.
[39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
[40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40.

Let us pray for more faith that we can desire to do what he would have us to desire, which is to love Him with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves. When we love Him, then we cannot be ashamed of Him. Everything else no matter how spectacular or grand is meaningless. Love is the goal but without faith, an unattainable goal as long as we stay in the flesh. 

So brothers and sisters, let us walk the talk and not just talk the walk. Anyone can talk but it takes real faith, a real connection to our Savior to walk it. Let us pray for a real relationship with Him, a real living connection to Him through the faith that only He can give us. With that faith, we are empowered to love not only Him but our neighbour as ourselves, something that is not natural and only possible by His power.