Walk the Talk

We hear this term so much, but what does it mean?  Well it pretty much means: Prove you words by your works.

What does it look like?  It looks like knowing what is right and following what is right, no matter how painful, uncool, unpopular, no matter what anyone else says, no matter how hard it may seem to be, you do what is right.

James 2:17-18: "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”

What do you mean?  Well let’s look at how easy it is to slip away from what is right.  For example let’s look at our everyday driving.   How easy is it to drive 3-5 miles over the speed limit and not get caught?  You could do that all day long and never get caught.  You know the speed limit, but you push it.  Since you get away with that, now what?  You come up to a traffic light that is beginning to turn, you speed up and as you go through the light turns from yellow to red.  You just ran a red light, but how often does a police officer see that or even take action on that?  We know the laws, but we slightly bend them, it is easy right?  What next?  Do you roll through a stop sign because nothing’s coming?  Come on, you know the law.

James 1:2-3: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

But to walk the talk you must do what is right all the time, not when we see others watching.  We do it when no one is watching, because God is watching and everything that we do should please God, because He is the only audience that we should care about.

Philippians 2:14 "Do everything without complaining or arguing…  But we are easy to complain about anything that may make us sound like we need attention.   This is probably the hardest of all things to control."

Where does it stop?  Just like driving, speaking is an easy way to start to lose the walk.  What about our everyday speaking?  Do you complain about even the little things?   It is just too east to speak badly or negatively than it is to speak positive or say good things.  It can start as easily as: it's Monday, ugh!  Simple phrase, but how does that effect the rest of your speech for the day.  Again, it is too easy to slip into not doing what is right.

James 3:5: "Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark."

But why do we do all these things that keep us from walking the talk?  I see the real reason is that we are trying to please ourselves and not God.  We are out for what we can get for me.  If I speed up, I can be first.  If I run this light, I won’t be delayed getting to work.  No one’s looking and this stop sign really should not be here.

But who are we trying to fool, God is watching and we should only be pleasing Him.  If we learn to live thinking that our only audience is God, it makes it a whole lot easier to “Walk the Talk”.  Once you begin to realize this and walking the talk, people look at you different, but in a good way.  They will then say, wow look at their life, they are different, and they have character. But do not accept the praise as yours; tell others that you only do this for God.

James 5:16: …."The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

So how do we start walking the talk?  First you pray, then read God’s Word, and then pray again asking God to help you “Walk the Talk”.