Live Your Words

You’ve heard the saying “Do as I say, not as I do.” Most people recite it jokingly to excuse their behavior when they’re caught doing the opposite of what they talk about.   If you research this phrase, you’ll find that it actually comes from the Bible. It’s found in Matthew 23:1-3:   

“Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The temple scholars are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior.”  (MSG)


Jesus was rebuking the religious teachers calling them hypocrites for telling people one thing but not doing it themselves.  James chapter 2 goes so far as to say our words without actions are dead. 

 “Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. But, demons do that and what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.  James 2:19-26 (MSG) 

Broken promises are difficult to receive. Probably because you put trust in those words given to you only to have them taken away. Broken promises are easy to give because when given they cost us nothing. Kept promises take great strength. Humans are unique in their creation that they are given a mind above instinct and a nature below god and in our being we have the power to reason, feel and choose. We also have the ability to lie, scheme and betray.

God is not human, that he should lie,
    not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
    Does he promise and not fulfill?

Numbers 23:19

If in our making we are burdened with this ability to break promises like no one else, where is our hope? As always, it is found in Jesus. He put aside his deity to come as a human - as God with us. And with us, he was one of us living guided by the Holy Spirit and the Father.

In John 5:19, Jesus makes this statement: “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”  In John 12:49 He tells us that He also only says what the Father says; “I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it”.

This same authority is also given to us

and with authority comes responsibility.

Basically Jesus tells us that His authority to say and do what He does comes from the Father.  And in John chapter 14 Jesus tells the disciples that they will do even greater things.  

This same authority is also given to us and with this authority comes responsibility.  Proverbs 18:21 reminds us, “The tongue has the power of life and death” (NIV) We wield words around like balls of cotton candy when, in fact, each one holds a blessing and a curse.

“Ironically this same tongue can be both an  instrument of blessing to our Lord and Father and a weapon that hurls curses upon others who are created in God’s own image.” James 3:9

When do get in the most trouble with our tongue?  I have found it is when we try and be nice by telling others we will do something so they will feel good in that moment. You know what I mean… The truth is we are just setting them up for disappointment later and making ourselves feel good in that moment. The Bible tells us to let our yes be a yes and our no be a no.  

If we are now alive in Jesus and he was the word made flesh (John 1) then our words also need to be alive and made flesh. In other words – put into action. We are not doomed to live with this unmanageable muscle. It just needs some training.  Here is Jesus’ 3 step model to follow as we learn to tame our tongue:   

1.  Listened to the Father in all things. 

2.  Watched for what the Father was doing.

3.  Don’t say or do anything without the Father making the first move.

Philippians 4:13 reads “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  With Christ in us, when we are weak and close to failing at doing what we say we will do, He will give us the strength to do what is right and help us live our words.

Our Prayer: Lord, be my strength. Lord, be my words. Help me to see what you are doing so I can partner with you. Give me the words to say that are pleasing to you. Help me, not only to walk with you but talk as you would.  Forgive me when I injure those you have created and those you love with my lies. I long to be more like you everyday and today I promise – to put my words into action and show you my love.

Click here to hear the song “Show Me Now” …..  https://youtu.be/H8zyF0ZOy3k