“Talk Is Cheap”

“Digging Deeper” is an opportunity for you to continue the study of God’s Word throughout the week.

FRIDAY
“Talk Is Cheap”

1 John 3:17-18
But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Most of us will never be put in a situation where we would be called on to give our lives for another person. However, we can be certain that we will have people around us with needs in their life. How willing are you to help meet the needs of the people around you? Remember, the evidence of genuine love is in doing rather than in dialogue.

Mark Twain said, “Actions speak louder than words but not nearly as often.” Talk is cheap. We are to love people the same way that God loves us… with action.

Donald W. Burdick gives three characteristics of godly (agape) love:

1. It is spontaneous. There was nothing of value in the persons loved that called forth such sacrificial love. God of His own free will set His love on us in spite of our enmity and sin. (Agape) is love that is initiated by the lover because he wills to love, not because of the value or lovableness of the person loved.

2. It is self-giving. [Agape] is not interested in what it can gain, but in what it can give. It is not bent on satisfying the lover, but on helping the one loved whatever the cost.

3. It is active. [Agape] is not mere sentiment cherished in the heart. Nor is it mere words however eloquent. It does involve feeling and may express itself in words, but it is primarily an attitude toward another that moves the will to act in helping to meet the need of the one loved.

CHALLENGE: Say “let me do that for you” to five people today.