Can Actions Speak Louder than Words?

Reen and I watched a fascinating movie last night. It took place in a small rural  Midwest town where neighbors were like family and the church and its pastor were the hub of the community. As a subplot to the story, a woman with three children, (her daughter a recent graduate, her son a high school senior and another 4-year-old daughter) was an alcoholic and obviously negligent.

Suddenly she drops the littlest girl at the church and leaves a note at home for her other two children. She writes she has left, moved away, and never plans to return.

As the town grieves over the children’s plight, the senior boy plans to quit school so he can take a job to keep the siblings together. The pastor learns of this and gathers the entire town together to discuss the children’s dilemma. As neighbors suggest ways they can help, one woman, whose husband was the high school coach and who recently died, offers to take the children in as her own.

Why am I telling you this story? I sat there watching this story play out wondering if our church, our true family (Christ’s Body), would be so moved in a similar situation.

Do we feel like the individuals sitting next to us in our church are really our family? Do we feel responsible for them so much so that we would take an entire family into our home permanently as our own? Do we even relate to those in our church as family rather than occasional friends?

 Jesus said this, “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples if you have love and unselfish concern for one another” (John 13:34-35).

I don’t know about you, but I am challenged this year as our world spirals into a greater and greater chaos, to consider the words of St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.”

Let’s join together to let our light shine in a way that they see our actions stand in stark contrast to our culture’s behavior, recognize God our Father is the reason we act as we do, and  glorify Him!