Actions Speak Louder than Words

Mark Twain has many famous sayings. One of them is, "Actions speak louder than words." This thought is clearly expressed by the prophet Isaiah when he is explaining the reason for God disciplining Jerusalem. He says in 29:13,

"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men."

This is a common problem we have as humans, we pretend to be something we aren't. Sometimes we pretend we are loyal to God on the outside, but on the inside we are not committed. Fake.

The Lord Jesus called the Pharisees out for this very reason. The Pharisees on the outside were ones who were uber spiritual. If people were watching, they were sure to be very pious. On the outward, they had all the appearances of ones with right hearts, but their actions spoke louder than their words. Matthew 15:7-9 calls out the Pharisees for the very things that Israel was guilty of 700 years earlier.

In Matthew 23 the Lord brings out all that the Pharisees were doing wrong.

1. labouring in law and never extending grace
2. taking widow's houses and making long prayers
3. searching for people to become subject to the law
4. oaths on objects, rather than based on their own word
5. omitting some of the law, while placing emphesis on tithes and giving
6. clean outside, dirty inside
7. righteous outside, dead inside
8. gloryfying the tombs of the prophets killed by their fathers

The one that epitimizes, and summarizes the rest, would be the clean outside and dirty inside. The outside appearance of the Pharisees was fine, but the inside was dirty. Their actions spoke louder than words. They drew near with their lips, but in their heart they were far away.

There is a little "Pharisee" in each of us, and we need to snuff it out. People hate hypocrites, saying one thing and doing another, and we need to steer clear of this. We may say the right things, but are we living the right life. We might have all the right answers, speak the right shiboleth, and look like a Christian on the outside, but what are we on the inside? We can only pretend for so long before the inside starts showing through. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," so while you are yet young or not too old, we need to change and develop a pure heart.

Each one who is saved has been made a new creation. Yet our sinful nature still is in us. We will not be perfected until the Lord comes again to give us perfectly Christlike minds and incorruptable bodies. But will the Lord say to you at the Judgment Seat, "Your heart wasn't right and your worship was in vain, though you said all the right words"? Examine your life, how is your heart and what are your actions because they speak louder than your words.