A tooth ache interrupted one couple’s vacation to the beach. After googling directions to a nearby dentist, the woman burst into the office, “I want a tooth pulled as quickly as possible. Don’t worry about painkillers because I’m in a hurry.”
Quite impressed by her vibrato, the dentist acknowledged, “You are a courageous woman. Which tooth do you want extracted?”
The woman turned to her husband who was just entering the building, “Honey, show him your tooth.”
Actions speak louder, longer, brighter than words. Words are empty if action is demanded.
One evening, my oldest daughter came home from a Sunday evening worship service. She had been deeply affected by the experience and in response had written on a piece of paper, “Help me not to be okay just because everything is okay with me.” I was so moved by what she wrote that I tacked that piece of paper up on our corkboard in the kitchen as a reminder that in community it is always we. In community, if someone else is not okay, then to some degree, I am not okay. (Nancy Ortberg, Looking for God, 2008, p. 37-38)
Huntsville, Alabama doesn’t see a lot a lot of snow, but we enjoyed a little last night. It didn’t take long for the sun to change the scenery around my house.
Let God’s love warm your heart to action! “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6b NIV). Actions speak louder than words and with fewer lies. Actions speak louder than words but can still be misinterpreted or misunderstood.
American humorist Will Rogers wisely quipped, “Live so that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.”
“So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all—it is dead and useless” (James 2:17 Living). When life is done, there is more said than done. Actions speak louder than words but not nearly as often.
