Talk is Cheap

1 John 3:16-20

 

When my daughter was about 10 years old, we were riding in the car when a song came on the radio. She asked me in her sweet, innocent 10 year old voice, “What are they singing about Daddy”. I listened for a minute, and simply replied, “Love”.

 

Isn’t that always the answer? But how do you define love? In the media, it is normally defined as romantic. In advertising, it is defined as something you desire. In politics… well never mind. But truth be known, everybody seems to have their own definition of love.

 

Adding to the confusion is how we use the word. “I love this pizza”. “I love my car”. “I love that perfume”. “I love the Buckeyes”. “I love my church”. Love has as many different applications as there are… objects to love.

 

According to the Urban dictionary, the saying “talk is cheap” is defined as: “a phrase used to indicate an individual’s inclination to verbalize opinions, stances, or other traits and subsequent reluctance to act upon said traits”. Talk is cheap. Everybody has a different opinion of what love is.

 

John, who was known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, had this to say about how to define love.

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Christ gave his life for us. We too, then, ought to give our lives for others! GNT

¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.                  NIV

 

Not surprisingly though, talk was not cheap for Jesus, and he set the bar high.

 

¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command.     John 15 NIV

 

How do you measure up to Jesus’ standard? Thankfully, we have a gracious Lord who paid the price so that even with our worst failure, we are still forgiven and loved. And because of his love, we can show it to others, not just by our words, but by our actions.

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you, or touched your heart through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 

Here are some more images that fit today's blog.

 

 

 

 

 

Life is Like a Rose Bush

John 15:1-17

(The second of two devotionals on this passage.)

 

 

We have a rose bush in our front yard. It was there when we bought our home. Although I’ve never been much of a gardener I have kind of adopted this rose bush. Every year it has produced tons of flowers. One harvest will come and go, followed by another.

 

But then last year I noticed that beetles were attacking it. They would swarm over a flower and eat it; eventually killing it. I bought some spray and would drench the bush but it didn’t seem to deter the beetles. Now if I see them swarm on a bloom, I prune the flower. Sometimes I flick them off with my finger sending them into orbit.

 

It’s become personal for me. Those nasty beetles attacking my poor defenseless rose
bush. I get angry at them and frustrated that they keep coming back. But we keep fighting them; the bush and I that is. Somehow the rose bush keeps budding and producing beautiful flowers. That’s what it was created to do of course.

 

In today’s passage Jesus said, ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you

can do nothing… ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

 

Like the rose bush, bearing fruit is what we as believers are created to do. You might do this by serving as an usher, singing in the choir, teaching Sunday school, helping with VBS or serving on a committee. Or maybe you help with a homeless ministry or food pantry or go on a short term mission’s trip.

 

It could also mean that you show God’s love by word or deed with the cashier at Meijer or Walmart or Wendy’s. It might mean treating your mechanic or restaurant server or person that cuts you off in traffic the way Jesus would. Why do we do this?

 

From the same passage Jesus said, ^12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

 

As a disciple of Christ we are called to bear fruit with the same love that Christ showed us. He has given us gifts for us to bear fruit. And he has brought people into our lives for us to bear fruit with. People like our friends, co-workers, family members, people at church and others.

 

Like my rose bush, we have been created for this. We may need some pruning by the Gardener, or there may be spiritual attacks (probably not beetles though). But in the end, Jesus called his disciples to bear fruit in love. What will you do to bear fruit?