Don’t Just Tell Me…Show Me

In the movie Fireproof we see this difficult journey for Catherine Holt where she confronts her husband Caleb over his deep misunderstanding of what it means to love his wife. He says that he loves her, yet he is much more focused on loving himself. What Caleb begins to realize is that Catherine doesn’t need to hear his words, but to see a change in heart through his actions and renewed commitment. Don’t just tell me you love me, show me that you do. Ultimately, it requires commitment, sacrifice, and sustained effort to renew His marriage.

Over the past week and a half or so, I have been in the book of Jeremiah. God’s people in Judah are continually being confronted with their disobedience, their idolatry, and the consequences that are coming because of it. Yet, they continue in their ways and listen to false prophets who tell them disaster isn’t coming their way because of their continued resistance to the Lord. 

On multiple occasions, God through the prophet Jeremiah presents an opportunity not to escape the consequences, but by their obedience to experience some mercy by renewing their commitment to obey God’s instructions for them as the exile approaches. Ironically, every moment where they committed with their words to obey the Lord’s instruction, they in fact did the very opposite.

Ultimately, the Lord allows them to experience the sufferings of their sin in exile because time and time again their words were “We will obey you Yahweh”, but their actions were disobedience and stubborn rebellion. God allowed the exile to occur to demonstrate the depth of their sinfulness and the seriousness to which that sinfulness is. God did this to make clear to all that there was a condition in the heart that must change in His people. 

I am thankful that this paved the way for salvation from our sin and ourselves through Jesus Christ, but if we’re honest, there are times where our love can become more lip service than loving obedience. 

This past Sunday, I believe we were confronted with a moment that brought us to confession of our sin. God gave us an opportunity to repent and renew our commitments to Him. We, like Caleb Holt, need to be reminded that it requires humility, sacrifice, and a sustained effort in order to renew our commitment to the Lord. Furthermore, we need to lean into his grace and not our strength to do so.

It’s in these times that the sufferings of life that we bring upon ourselves from our disobedience and self-reliance cause us to be reminded as people who love Christ this simple truth: “Don’t Just Tell Jesus that We Love Him, Live Like We Do.”