Oh, and I seriously need to remember that driving a few hours northwest at the speed limit does not, as I appear to have believed, take years off my life or increase physical fitness. I know I didn't really believe that, but I read something last night where the author set forth that what you believe is what you do, it is what your actions show, There is some truth in that. If you say you love Jesus and that you believe that someone is about to self destruct if they don't come to know Him as the solution, and if you also say that you care for that person, and if you also say that you believe that the consequences of that self destruction are eternal and yet you don't tell that person about Jesus, you don't really believe those things. If your actions are that you don't want to risk rejection or something of that nature, then what you believe is that it is more important to be socially accepted or to look cool than it is that people who are on the highway to hell need Jesus. That was basically the author's position, and I agree...to a degree.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there are some problems with the what you believe is revealed in your actions theory. If you watched me play in the park with my precious grandson yesterday morning, my actions would have, if you believe this proposition, lied to you. Most of us do believe this, at least to an extent, and that's why we say things like actions speak louder than words, and don't tell me you're sorry; show me you're sorry. Yes, my actions might have been lying. They also might have been telling the truth. It all depends on what you thought they were saying. And that's the problem with actions revealing truths about life, such as belief. Their language is subjective and their meaning varies from interpreter to interpreter as the people run the situation and actions through the filters of their own thoughts, emotions, circumstances and history.
So what might someone have thought watching me play with my three year old grandson? It depends. One person said that they wished they had my energy, to which I replied that I wished I had my grandson's energy. They seemed to think my actions were saying that I had energy to spare, that all the running back and forth racing Baiden's swing came easily. My actions apparently said, "I am in decent shape." Oh how they lie. I moved more in that hour in the park than I have all month I think. I picked up the equivalent of a large bag of dog food multiple times, lifting it, swinging it, carrying it, then setting it down and jogging a little before picking it up and doing it again. My actions said that I think I am younger than my 45 years or at least in much better physical shape than I really am in. At least they could have seemed to say that.
My actions didn't lie to Leah though. No, my wife knows me well enough that my actions didn't fool her for a second, and I don't think they fooled my stepdaughter Amanda either. Amanda smiled an amused smile when Leah mentioned that I was crazy and was going to hurt tomorrow. You see, they both know that I am not in great shape, that I am indeed 45 rather than 25 and that I did not have the energy and stamina to be doing what I was doing. I was running on reserves and trying to fake it not hurting or wearing me out because I wanted to tell my grandson, with my actions and expressions, that I was having fun with him. Which, by the way, I was. I was having a blast. My body wasn't. It screamed at me. Yelled at me to stop. Accused me of losing my mind. My body hated me, and hates me more this morning as tomorrow has become today, and Leah was right. I hurt in places I forgot I had.
The truth is that I knew from the start that all that activity was going to hurt. I would definitely pay for the privilege of playing later. I didn't care. It was more than worth it. I have a tattoo that illustrates the philosophy of smile now, cry later, and I lived much too much of my life with the philosophy of this is going to hurt....later. So maybe I haven't changed as much as it seems I have. Just what is worth the pleasure to ignore the warning of pain to come for it has changed. Now it's not the illicit and immoral and illegal, but Baiden's laugh and smile can still do it. Baiden laughed more while I raced that swing than I saw him laugh all weekend. Oh, I knew I would pay. but I didn't care. That three year old's laughter and ear to ear smile hooked me. My actions didn't say anything about what I was doing being a good idea or an easy thing. They said I thought playing with my grandson and making him smile was more enjoyable and important to me than my present and future comfort. And they were telling the truth, I hurt, but have no regrets. Not only do I not regret doing it, I am certain I will do it, or something else as foolish, again. I'm too much like my mother not too. Grandkids are way more important than being pain free or comfortable.
And what about that person that needs to know that Jesus is the solution? My actions may say to someone that I don't really believe Jesus is the solution if I don't say something with words, or that I don't care about that person, or that I believe acceptance is more important or whatever. But they may also say that I believe that repeating the same loving acts of friendship and acceptance and care for that person without preaching enough times that they can accurately interpret what my actions are saying will speak louder than my words could because they've had too many people speak love while acting hate, speak God's grace while trying to force the law of sin and death, etc. Maybe I believe with everything that I am that Jesus is the answer for them but that they will go deaf to any words of "religion" spoken while they will drink up the language of love in action.
Actions do show the truth of what we believe. If we know how to read them. It's like sarcasm. I speak fluent sarcasm, so I tend to understand that tone means more than the words being spoken. To someone who doesn't get sarcasm, it may seem like someone is a big time liar or stupid when they say something sarcastic. Sarcasm is a language if truth, but you have to know how to speak and hear it, or it's full of lies. The language of actions is the same.
I once thought there were things I shouldn't ask forgiveness for. No matter how horrible I felt about doing them, again and again, I always did the again part. Obviously I enjoyed doing them and wanted to do them more than I hated them and hated myself for doing them. If I were really sorry I would quit doing them. So obviously my actions said I was doing exactly what I wanted and preferred and therefore I shouldn't ask God to forgive me, because I didn't have true remorse or repentance.
For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
- Romans 7:15
I thought my actions were saying that I wasn't really sorry, that I didn't really hate those things and that I didn't really want to stop doing them. I didn't even know how to accurately interpret my own actions. What they were saying was that I was a slave to sin and couldn't set myself free. I needed the power of God to release me and keep me free. The language of actions is a language of truth, but we can not assume that we understand what it is saying accurately, not even when we are looking at ourselves. We need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to make sure we are understanding what actions are saying.
Today let us examine our actions and see if they line up with what we claim to believe. Let us remember as we go about our day that what others see in our expressions and actions will say more about what they think we believe than any Christian bumper stickers, T-shirts or music playing on our radios can ever or will ever say. But let us remember that we can't speak the truth of what we believe about God in our actions without grace, because humans can't speak the language of God's love and righteousness without outside help. Let us remember that what hear in the actions of others may not really be what they are saying and that we need to rely on the Spirit to interpret for us. And let us pray that today our actions line up with what God wants to say to everyone we encounter.
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