The difference between philosophy and action

Recently I was challenged by a statement much like this: "I don't care about your philosophy, I care about what you ARE doing".

Actions speak louder than words. Our core values are reflected in how we spend our time, not how well we can articulate our stand on some issue or another. We can easily go through life nodding our head in agreement with good ideas and stirring messages but the bottom line is that if we don't act on our agreement then we might as well not agree at all.

James 2:14 reminds us that "Faith without works is dead". DEAD. In our pursuit of holiness we need to remember that its not just enough to work on what we think is right and wrong. We need to reflect what we believe in how we steward our resources. Our time. Our money. Our houses. Everything we have should be a reflection of what we believe. If its not then maybe we need to act on making it so.

One of the greatest complaints about the church these days is that we're hypocritical. The up and coming generation looks at the greater majority of us and see that our life is out of sync with what we say we believe. We don't look enough like Jesus as he is described in the bible. People are infectiously attracted to Jesus. They aren't infectiously attracted to us. Why? I think the answer is often obvious... the question is, what are you and I willing to do about it.

Here's the question I'd like us to discuss today... In what ways are you personally convicted about moving beyond philosophy and toward action?