Less Talk, More Action

True gospel reversals turn the world upside down, as Jesus showed. One of these is the reversal of action. Love is more action-oriented and less talk-oriented, yet we often talk more about love than commit through our actions. Jesus tended to prefer actions to illustrate his teaching.

His miracles were the graphic display of the Father’s love replete in the Son’s being.

Challenges remain for us when it comes to love—our commitment to humankind and all creation. Are we the sort of people who talk about good deeds without living them? Or, are we the sort of people who act the same when no one (but God) is watching?

Action is infinitely more powerful than the words that supposedly bring meaning to life.

The Blessings of Action – A Poem

Blessings aplenty there are in life,

So many really they undermine strife,

When we consider that as we may,

We’re positioned to be blessed and thereabouts stay.

Then we find the power of things,

From such a thing we find love springs,

Dissuaded as we are from spoken distraction,

We go on in the power of our committed action.

Talk promises a lot but hardly satisfies,

Those left in its wake have reason to despise,

But when we resolve to button the lip,

Then we can see life outcomes flip.

Action has about it this thing called Love,

And action is anointed from heaven above,

Superior to the promise action takes us home,

Where peace and contentedness may truly roam.

Blessing is to action,

As the curse is to a pledge,

For when action becomes distraction,

Love loses its edge.

Not only is action a thing of God’s,

It’s a thing that redeems all the world’s nods,

When we act in such love as to defiantly give,

Then we find we’ve power to very truly live.

***

Behind every goal is the commitment of action. Goals are spoken things, but they have no relevance toward improvement unless we speak through the visibility of our behaviour.

If we were to act consistently with what we say, our characters would be true and integrity would be ours.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) said, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike Christ.”

Gandhi’s quote refers directly to the lack of integrity in the human condition; the being devoid of a spiritualised heart, transformed in humility by God.

If we would follow Christ we would understand the straightforward nature of favouring action over words. And we would be more loving as a result.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.