Lip Service is NOT Enough

“Lip Service Is NOT Enough”

By Zach Wood

1 John 3:18 NLT

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other, let us show the truth by our actions.

We are so good at trying to persuade people with words, aren’t we?  Depending on the situation, we will use words in so many clever ways to convince people so that we can get what we want.  We easily and often use words to persuade others to do something for us or give something to us.

So many people use words in sly ways to get something from others.  People in different job positions can use words in order to trick people into buying something.  The last thing I want when I go somewhere to look for something to buy is to have a sales person pressure me with words to buy something.  Words can be so strong and persuasive.

As Christians, we use words to try to show people that we love God.  It is great that we use words to express to others our love for God, but words simply are not enough.  Words are good up to a point, but then our actions must speak louder.

In all my years of secular work world and vocational paid ministry, I have seen such a great need to show non believers the very love of God through actions.  We not only need to share God’s truth through words, but through our actions of love for others. 

Friends, we absolutely cannot just say that we love others.  We must prove that love by the way we act toward them and how we treat them.  Our actions will always speak so much louder than the words we use. 

Lip service is simply not enough in today’s world.  People want to see so-called Christians living out the faith they proclaim.  The world needs to see genuine love through our actions to back the words we share.  God proved His love by sending Jesus Christ to die for us.  His actions spoke louder than words.  Our actions also need to speak louder than words. 

We can never expect the world to believe what we say if we are not going to back those words up with genuine love.  Make sure your lip service is followed by love in action.  God depends on us to not only share words of love, but to put feet on those words so they become actions of love. 

When it comes to our words versus actions, actions will always speak louder.