Thursday Devotional: Say it, Show It

Say It, Show It

Bible reading: 1 John 3:18-20 Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth (1 John 3:18-19a, NLT).


Would you believe a person who claimed to be a famous race car driver, but couldn’t back his car out of his garage?
Would you believe a person who told you she was a trapeze artist in a world-famous circus, but was afraid to climb a ladder to change a light bulb?
Would you believe a person who claimed to be the world’s greatest psychic, and then asked you what time it was?
Probably not, right? Why not? Because their actions don’t support their claims.
It’s no different when people say they love someone else, but don’t show it by their actions. Such claims are hard to believe because there’s no evidence to support their claims.
You see, it’s one thing to talk about love, to say we love each other. It’s something else entirely to really show we love each other by our actions. For example, you might say you love everybody in your church youth group, but are you willing to sit next to Valerie, the girl with the greasy hair who always smells like some disgusting animal curled up inside her and died. . . . months ago? You might say you love others, but when’s the last time you did something to help Mrs. McCready, the old lady who looks like she’s about three hundred years old and who lives alone down the street and has to shovel the snow off her sidewalk and mow the lawn herself? You might say you love pretty much everybody, but how long has it been since you showed your love for someone else, with your actions, and not only with words?
“It is by our actions,” the Apostle John said, “that we show we are living in the truth.” Do your actions show your love for others?


Review: Today’s Scripture reading doesn’t say that we should stop saying “I love you” to our parents, siblings, friends, and others we love; it says we should “stop just saying we love each other.” In other words, we should say it and show it.

Reflect: Is there someone who needs to be convinced of your love? Is there someone who needs to be reminded of your love? How can you do a better job of showing your love to others?

Reinforce: Suggest a family “project” to your parents to show God’s love to someone outside your family (bake cookies for a shut-in, take the family pet to visit nursing home patients, send a card to a prisoner, babysit for a single parent, shovel snow for an elderly couple, etc.).

Remember: “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God” (1 John 4:7, NLT).