We Settle for Words: Deeds Are Too Costly

    By A. W. Tozer

    My little children, let us not love in word,
    neither in tongue: but in deed and in truth, 1 John 3:18

        The practice of substituting words for deeds is not
    something new, for the Apostle John saw it in his day
    and warned against it.

        James also had something to say about the vice of
    words without deeds: "If a brother or sister be naked,
    and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto
    them. Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; not-
    withstanding ye give them not those things which are
    needful to the body; what doth it profit?"

        We settle for words in religion because deeds are too
    costly. It is easier to pray, "Lord, help me to carry my
    cross daily" than to pick up the cross and carry it. But
    since the mere request for help to do something we do
    not actually intend to do has a certain degree of religious
    comfort, we are content with repetition of the words.

        What then? Shall we take a vow of silence? Shall we
    cease to pray and sing and write and witness until we
    catch up on our deeds?

        I say no, that would not help. While we have breath we
    must speak to men about God and to God about men.

        To escape this snare of words without deeds, let us say
    nothing we do not mean. Break the habit of conventional
    religious chatter. Speak only as we are ready to take
    the consequences. Believe God's promises and obey
    God's commandments. Practice the truth so that we
    may with propriety speak the truth. Deeds give body to
    words. As we do acts of power, our words will take on
    authority and a new sense of reality will fill our hearts!

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    Yours in Christ,
    Paul N. F.