One of my parents’ favorite expressions was, “Actions speak louder than words.” When I got married, although we spoke loving words, we found that just being there for each other was a stronger expression of our love than words could possibly express. I’ve mentioned before that there were times when quietly holding her hand while she slept was worth more to Carol than telling her “I love you” a thousand times. The older I get the more attention I pay to the actions of people, especially politicians who often use words to distract us from what they are actually doing. Jesus put it this way, “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” (Matthew 7:20)
The New Testament has a lot to say about doing good works. Paul often reminds us in his letters to the churches that salvation cannot be earned by doing good works; it is a free gift from God’s mercy and grace about which we cannot boast or take credit. James emphasizes the strong connection between our faith in Christ and our good works; even going as far as to say, “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” (James 2:26) In his three letters, John shows us the connection between God’s love for us and in us and sharing that love with others by our kind acts toward them.
One of my favorite expressions is, “Kindness is just love with work boots on.” Ever since I became a Christian all those years ago, I have tried to share God’s love through kind acts toward others. These last five years, with the loss of Carol and my increased physical limitations, I have been on the receiving end of more acts of kindness than I can possibly count and believe me when I tell you I can still feel the love behind each of those kind acts.
As Christians, we must seek salvation and the love of God first and then let that faith and love express themselves in our actions. The writer of Hebrews tells us not only to believe, love and act, but to encourage other Christians to do the same. “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24) There is no better way to improve the world in which we live and to share our faith.