Words Without Action: What good is that?

There’s a lot of talk lately. There’s been a lot of talk for awhile.

“We don’t want nationalized healthcare.”

“We want the sanctity of marriage protected.”

“We want to save the lives of the unborn.”

There is nothing wrong with these statements. I agree completely with each of them. I think we need to say these things. We need to fight for what is right.

The problem is, too often we fight with words instead of actions. And as Christians, we are often stepping into the fight to late.

The healthcare debate raging in Washington and in living rooms across America is the latest development of a very old problem.

We are ready protest the government’s involvement now, but where were we when the needs of our neighbors were going unmet?

As Christians, where were we when the elderly lady in the pew next to us lost all her teeth because she couldn’t go to the dentist? Where were we when the family had to sell their house after the dad died of cancer? Where were we when the man down the street lost his job because of a back injury he couldn’t afford to have fixed?

Or take the fight for the sanctity of marriage.

Christians for years have kept quiet as law after law was passed legalizing all manner of divorce and making it an ever easier process. Most of us don’t bat an eye of a man has three wives, provided that he doesn’t have them all at one time. And as for premarital intimacy, we tend to look the other way on that too, as long as nobody talks about it.

Or take the ever raging abortion debate.

Christians perhaps are the most vehement among the anti-abortion activists. Yet, we swallowed whole-heartedly the ideology that made children a choice to begin with. And while we are ready to condemn the pregnant teen for her act of desperation, few of us are willing to lift a finger to offer her another solution.

When it comes to fighting society’s wrongs, so often it’s too little, too late. What we have failed to do with action we try to do with words. But when it comes to broken bones, words are hardly helpful.

But suppose things were different. Suppose all the Christians started acting like Christ.

Suppose Christians healed the sick. We may not all have supernatural power, but we may have time to volunteer at a free clinic. Or we may have money to donate for a church or community medical fund.

Suppose Christians held themselves to God’s standard for marriage and supported their brothers and sisters through the tough times. Suppose instead of judging those suffering from gender confusion, we actually offered hope for a better way.

Suppose instead of looking down our noses at the unwed mother we actually offered assistance.

Loving people doesn’t mean we are condoning their behaviors. Jesus met the physical hunger of the 5,000. That doesn’t mean He approved of every lifestyle represented.

As Christians, we are called to words and actions. One without the other is useless.

James 2:15-16 says, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”

Maybe we should consider this question more often.