Actions and words

This passage generally makes me think :

28"What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 29And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

It can be found in Matthew 21 and is part of a chapter of parables and action. Jesus tells parables to tell the truth, but in a way that disguises it from folks who really don't want to know. He takes action against sinful doings, therefby giving us an example to follow.

But this passage specially reminds us that actions speak louder than words. That doing what we are supposed to do is more important than sounding correct. It's like saying you will pray for something when you won't. It's like fervently attacking the sin of another while ignoring your own. There are so many ways to say things that mean nothing. And this passage reminds us that our actions tell more about where are hearts are. Yet James has a whole book where he reminds us that our tongues, what we say is very important as well. ANd elsewhere in the bible we learn that what we speak shows forth our hearts.

So both are so very imporant. we do need to watch what we say, but we do need to be aware that what we do really shows up who we really are.