Talk is Cheap — Answering The Call - A Redeeming The Time Blog

Talk is Cheap

By Grant Gaines

In 1996 the New York Islanders were plummeting towards the worst place you can be in all of sports-irrelevancy. The once proud hockey franchise had missed the playoffs in five of the last eight years, their arena was literally deteriorating before their eyes, and the owners didn’t have the money to fix the arena or the franchise. It was a dark time to be an Islander fan.

But riding in on a white horse with shining armor to save the day was a rich Texas multi-millionaire named John Spano who was eager to purchase the team. Spano promised a new arena, new players, and a new winning culture for the Islanders. It appeared as though a new era was about to dawn on the franchise that was thirsty for change.

But there was a slight hiccup in the transaction between the NHL and John Spano-Spano didn’t have the money. Sure, he had told the NHL, the Islanders, and all of the newspapers that he was worth $230 million, but when push came to shove and he had to pony up the money, his bank account was found wanting. Spano had lied to banks, forged signatures, and drastically misrepresented himself in order to get himself in position to own an NHL team, but when it was revealed that he was a liar and swindler, the team was repossessed by the NHL and Spano was sent to prison for bank fraud, wire fraud, and forgery.

This just goes to show you that talking a big game can only get you so far. At the end of the day, when the rubber must meet the road it is your actions, and not your words that proves your worth. This is the truth that is relayed in 1 John 1:6 (NASB), “If we say that we have fellowship with [God] and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

This phrase “if we say” or some variation of it is used five times in the first 19 verses of 1 John and on all but one occasion that this phrase is used, it carries a negative connotation. God is clearly trying to get His point across that our words carry very little significance when compared to our actions. Take Christ’s disciples for an example.

Sitting around the dinner table during the Last Supper in Mark 14, every single disciple-including Judas-argued adamantly that they would not be the one to betray Christ (Mark 14:19). But just several verses later we find Judas kissing Jesus on the cheek symbolizing his defiant act of treason. In the same chapter Peter, “…insisted emphatically, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You.’ And all the others said the same” (Mark 14:31, NIV). Every single disciple pledged their allegiance to Jesus and yet, as you and I both know, if we look to the end of Mark 14 we find Jesus standing all alone on trial with His “loyal” disciples nowhere to be found.

The disciples said they wouldn’t deny Jesus but when push came to shove, they fell away like a leaf from a tree. In the same way, we can claim a lot of things about our relationship with God through both our words and out externally visible actions-we can go to church, we can pray before meals, and we can subscribe to Christian blogs, but as 1 John 1:6 warns us, if we do all of that and yet continue to walk in sin, we are lying to ourselves and truly have no relationship with God at all-our talk is cheap.

But as 1 John continues on, it says that the true indicator of a relationship with God is not our words but our walk. James 2:26 (NIV) describes it in a different way by saying, “…faith without deeds is dead.” In other words, if your belief that Jesus died for your sins and rose again to give you victory over those sins does not influence the way you live your life, your faith is no faith at all. Or as the old saying goes, “a faith that has not changed you has not saved you.”

You can claim a lot of things with your words and with your publically visible actions, but as the NHL found out with John Spano and 1 John 1:6 reveals to us as believers, the true litmus test of being a Christian is not what you say nor what people see but rather what happens behind closed doors between only you and God.

Are you claiming a relationship with God, or are you living a relationship with God?

“…The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
-Galatians 5:6 (NIV)