What good is it, dear brothers and sisters,
of you say you have faith, but don’t show it
by your actions?
– James 2:14 (New Living Translation)

“Talk is cheap.” “Actions speak louder than words.” “He talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk.” How many times have we heard these phrases or experienced them coming from our own mouth? In today’s society, we often say one thing but do another. Just tuning in to sports talk or reading the sports page will tell us that. As coaches, we talk a lot. The words we speak are important because they can have a huge impact on those who are hearing them. But as important as our words are, what we do is even more critical. The hard truth is that we will be known and remembered not only for our words, but also for our actions.

James, the brother of Jesus, challenges us in James 2:14 to take a hard look at ourselves. How often do we tell the world who we are and then allow our actions to betray us? In his book The Mentor Leader, Tony Dungy says one of the things that will define us is our faith. Dungy states that everyone believes in something, but the question we must answer is how passionately do we believe it? Too often our faith is demonstrated through our words with very little conviction. This is a shallow faith unworthy for others to follow. James’ words are strong. He tells us true faith transforms not only our speech, but also our actions. God wants our faith to transform every aspect of our lives. He wants us to be more about “walking” than “talking”.

Heavenly Father, Your words have the power to change lives. Teach me Lord not only to hear Your words, but to transform them into good deeds. Amen.