A DAY I MADE A LOT OF NOISE

I was having lunch with a friend, rambling on and on about the different resource for Bible Study that I’ve discovered. I was barely giving myself time to take a bite of my sandwich before I’d launch into another monologue on Theology and Hermeneutics. Sure I was sincere, but I began to see that she was looking away from time to time. I didn’t stop to ask her why, I only thought that it was annoying me, and I was about to be offended and…

“Do you see that guy?” she said, interrupted my thoughts. She was looking just outside the restaurant window, at an old man who was walking with a gasoline container. He looked tired and distressed. His hair was falling forward and his shirt was untucked. He had no business being outside in 95 degree weather.

“No, I didn’t…” I said, slowly turning a degree to see what she was talking about.

“Looks like he ran out of gas or is having car trouble”, she added.“He’s been out there now for a while – he walked from across the street.”

“A while?” I thought. “How long? 10, 20, 30 minutes and I hadn’t noticed?

My friend proceed to approach the man and offered her help. Then it occurred to me that I was so busy talking about “what we believe” that I didn’t even notice the opportunity to live it out!  It was what Paul was talking about in I Corth. 13:1 when he said:

 “If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

Not to minimize the importance of studying and understanding scripture. I’d be the first to tell you how important that is. It’s my joy and passion. I love to examine the scriptures, I love to reason and discuss the depth of meaning of a passage. And the lesson was just as loud and clear to me: In our zeal for the knowledge of God’s word, are we missing it’s application even as there are opportunities all around us? Are we letting it come out of our mouths more than allowing it to come into us and effect how we act, think, and live?

Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn’t answer that. I’m already a walking drum set.

 

*********

 What are your thoughts on “walking the walk” and “talking the talk”?