Walk the Talk

Robert Frost is credited with having said, "Words to live by are just
words, unless you live by them. You have to walk the talk."

Robert Frost is in complete agreement with scripture. Jesus quoted the
prophet Isaiah when he said, "Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about
you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me
with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they do
worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'"

Ezekiel tells us about the Jews of his day who faithfully attended
meeting and listened to the word of exhortation and verbally agreed with all that
was said. God knew their hearts and explained to Ezekiel, "So they come
to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your
words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love,
but their hearts pursue their own gain." Ezekiel may have thought he was
getting through to them, but in reality his words were only words. God
said, "Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a
pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your
words, but they do not do them."

How often have we heard a good exhortation (sermon) and then left to do just the
opposite from that which we were exhorted to do? One person recently
confessed that after a confrontational meeting at work his boss asked
him, "Why is it when you come to work you leave your religion at the door?"
Evidently this is what happened in Ezekiel and Isaiah's day too. They
came, sat and heard, and they agreed ... and they did
not do. It is no use us giving the Lord lip service if our everyday actions
are not in harmony with our words. As Robert Frost so aptly put it, we
must "walk the talk."

Have we ever wondered just how much good the words of exhortation do us?
Think how many exhortations you have heard or read in your lifetime. We
are to exhort one another, for Paul told us that we should be "exhorting
one another daily, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."
But we need to ask the question, what good does it do if we hear and do
not do? Do we hear the talk, agree with the talk, but then not walk the
talk?"

There is a sad truth we need to admit can be true. It is possible for us
to deceive ourselves. James tells us to "be doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving yourselves." If we say we hear but do not do we
are only fooling ourselves. We can say that the truth is the most
wonderful thing in our life, we can say that we long for the coming of
the Lord, and then we can go out and live in a way that contradicts these
words we say we live by. Remember that Jesus called them hypocrites who
drew near to God with their lips when their heart was far from Him.

What you are is hollering so loud that I cannot hear what you are saying.
Are our talk and our walk consistent with each other? Talk is cheap.
Actions speak louder than words. Do we say one thing and do another? We
might deceive others, we may be trying hard to even deceive ourselves but
we know deep in our hearts that we are not deceiving our heavenly Father.
We need to acknowledge with the Psalmist that the Lord knows if we are
walking the talk and ask Him to "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try
me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and
lead me in the way everlasting."

Let us ask the Lord to search into the deep recesses of our hearts and
minds and then plead with him to "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin."

Let us commit ourselves to living by the word of the Lord, to following
the ways of the Word made flesh, so that then the words we live by will
be the words we walk by, and then in all our ways we will acknowledge Him
and He will direct our paths.

Robert J. Lloyd

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