More than Words

A lot of us, me included, have had some great ideas and plans on how to make a difference. We proclaim that we’ll help do something big - like traveling somewhere that needs extra manpower to recover. In recent years (and weeks) there have been a lot of incidents that have encouraged people to do something about it. My church has been right in the middle of it – sending missionaries to Haiti to aid in their recovery from last year’s earthquake.

But most of us are full of excuses. We seem to talk a great game, but just don’t take action. There is always something standing in the way. “I just don’t have the time.” or “I can’t afford to do something like that.” or “I’d rather help someone in my own country, not a foreigner.” or “I’ll just send a check and let someone else help.” Unfortunately, it’s a lot easier just to turn a blind eye to it all because who is ever going to know if you do anything or not, right?

Up until 6 years ago, I was one of those people. I would donate a little here and there, but I never felt it was my role or responsibility to truly get involved. I had my own problems to worry about - 3 kids, a house, work, and all the other things that go into everyday life. But all that changed when I was asked to be a member of a trip to the Bahamas with the Senior High Youth Group. At first I was hesitant. Why would I want to go to another country with a bunch of high schoolers I barely knew? How would I contribute? And since I was pretty new to the Christian thing, how much “God” stuff would I have to do?

Pretty quickly, my concerns were gone. I fell in love with where I was and what I was doing. Our group did not have to preach or evangelize (whew!) since most of the people we met were already Christians. We were taking action – showing our love for them by being there. Whether we fixed roofs, painted houses, played with kids, or just sat and talked with them, we showed our love by doing. The people who accepted that first challenge came home and shared about their awesome trip. Over the years, the team has had 16, 24, 19, 20, 21, 26, and now 46 members. (85 different people have participated)

So when it came time to prepare this year’s devotional for the trip, it didn’t take long for this verse to almost pop out of my Bible - 1 John 3:18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” Pretty simple yet so powerful. We plan on continuing our tradition of spreading God's love by not only talking the talk, but walking the walk.

I hope that if an opportunity presents itself to you, you won’t give it lip service, but real service. Take some action and be examples of how our Lord shared His love for us – He took action.