Show, Don't Tell part 5
Charity is love in action. Not just saying something that someone would find nice to hear, but actually DOING something to help them. Here's the key though: You can't give what you don't have and you can only give what you do have. So, with that in mind, look at Hebrews 4:15-16 (NLT), "This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." In order to find grace, you need to know where to look for it. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. We can come boldy to the Throne of Grace. We can go straight to the source. Instead of looking for love in all the wrong places, we can be still and know that HE is God. We can let God love us, and then love Him back by loving each other. We can let the love inside come out, by knowing and believing that it's in there. When we go to the Throne to find grace... that's when we can be graceful. That's when we can give what we've got--when we know what we've got and when we believe that we've got it. So don't just tell people that God is loving, and gracious, and merciful, and forgiving. SHOW them His love and His grace and His mercy and His forgiveness! Make it apparent to everybody. Preach the gospel at all times. And if you absolutely have to, use words. And, listen, I do want to say this: As a writer, I understand how important words are. "The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will" (Isaiah 50:4 NLT). A word in season is powerful. Where the word of the king is, there is power. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. I'm not saying you should be careless with your words. I'm saying exactly the opposite. You should take care in what you say. And you should back it up with your actions. Where the rubber meets the road is where things get real and powerful. Putting your money where your mouth is, if I can say it like that. Basically--don't just tell people you love them. Do that, but also SHOW them. Love is giving. It isn't just words. If someone's hungy and you say, "I hope you get a good meal," have you really helped them at all? Loved them at all? If someone's hungry... feed them. Problem solved. See a need, and if it's at all in your power to do so... meet it. That's as simple as I can make it. See a need and meet it. Live out of your abundance. Show people what God has done for you... by doing the same for them! One more memory verse to drive this home: "Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other" (1 John 4:11 (NLT). Receiving and releasing the love of God. Breathing it in and breathing it out with every breath we take and every move we make. Letting God love us and then loving Him back by loving each other. That's what this life is for. That's what this life is all about. That's why we were created, and that's how we experience God's creation! It's all about relationship. It's all about connection. It's not good that man should be alone. It's the love in our lives that makes life worth living. It's the love in our lives that makes it possible to live. Because to live is to love and to love is live! So don't just tell people. Tell them--but don't JUST tell them. Show them. Show them you love them by showing them what (WHO) love is. Love is giving. Giving everything you are and everything you have. That's how we experience this abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life to the fullest!