Have you ever had your own words used against you?
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I have always tried to teach my children that “Words mean things!” In other words, say what you mean and mean what you say. We have heard a lot of rhetoric about people being upset because of things that they said in the past that have come back to haunt them in the present.
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Is it fair to hold people accountable for what they have said? Absolutely! After all, Jesus told us to let our yes be yes and our no to be no. Matthew 5:27. But are our words the only way to judge a person? Or even the most important way of judging a person?
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I think you know that my answer is going to be “NO!”
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Let’s look at another teaching of Jesus. Matthew 21:28-32 gives us another scenario. In this passage, Jesus tells a story about a father who asks two sons to work in the vineyard. One says “No” but later goes out and works in the field. The second son says “Sure” but never does out to work.
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Jesus asks the question which son obeyed his father? The obvious answer is the one who obeyed his father!
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So what is the lesson we can take away from both of these passages?
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Actions Trumps Words!
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Yes, words are important but actions are the real proof of a person’s character!
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18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18 (NIV)
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Dr. Val
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