Daily Thought for Friday January 28th

January 28, 2011

Deeds

Today’s Thought:

“The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.”  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today’s Question

Which is the better to talk of doing, or to actually do?

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

Solomon wrote in Proverbs 20:11, “Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.”  As children of God the same can be said of us.

We are not so much known for what we say, or even what we say we will do, but rather we are known more comprehensively by the deeds we perform, the actions we take and the things we accomplish.

Aristotle wrote, “We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.”

To summarize his philosophical thought more simplistically – we become by doing.

We’ve heard it said you are what you eat, but more pointedly and poignantly you are what you do.

If we are to be Christians, we must act more Christ-like.

Our testimony is not as effected by what we say, as much as it is by what we do about what we say we believe.

Though it is an old cliché, its truth cannot be refuted, “Actions speak louder than words.”

It is not enough to say we are a new creation in Christ Jesus – we must act like a different person.

It is not enough to say we love God with all our heart, mind and soul, if we don’t love the person standing next to us in Wal Mart or at the grocery store or in the house next door to us, or sitting on the other side of the church from us.

Cheap Trick sang, “Dirty deeds are done dirt cheap,” and this is true, worthless actions that lead to no real gain are easy to do: but deeds with merit and meaning sometimes require more effort and even sometimes sacrifice.

To be a Christian is more than a claim it is a way of life.

May we all be more successful at doing it! 

Today’s Verses:

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

1 John 3:16-23

Today’s Prayer:

Father, help me to live like I believe what I say and when that falls short of being all it should be help me to live like you say I should, in spite of what I think or say.