I John 3:18 says. “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
As a child I hated reading, along with school. I never read a book of any substance until my sophomore year. That book was “Great Expectations,” by Charles Dickens. I was home sick and didn’t have anything else to do. I was a slow reader—still am. The book was required reading. Immediately it got my attention when Pip came across an escaped prisoner who had a ball-and-chain on his ankle. The prisoner convinced him to get a file. Pip fearfully returned with one. The story went on with Pip’s life. He came across the recluse, Miss Havisham, and the girl, Estella ,who he fell for. A mysterious benefactor paid his way to become a gentleman, suitable for Estella. Though Pip thought it was Miss Havisham, in the end it turned out to be the prisoner. The prisoner didn’t show his love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed.
In I John 3:11, John says we should love one another. Then he says, not like Cain who killed his brother. Despite a world which hates us, we are to return love. This kind of love is proof that we have “…passed from death unto life” (V. 14). John goes on to give us an example of this kind of love in Jesus, who laid down His life for us. Finally he says in verse 17, if we see our brother in need and are able to help him, but have no compassion on him, we don’t have the love of God.
My own mother, now in Heaven, was a woman who had compassion. She gave generously to missions and to down-and-out children. She had her faults, but this was not one. After working on a painting project, and in her paint clothes, she went to Safeway to get a few items. On the sidewalk outside sat a dirty homeless-looking beggar with a sign. Without a second thought she pulled out some money and gave it to him. He handed the money back and said, “Ma’am, I think you need this more than me.”
In Matthew 25:32-46, Jesus tells of a king separating nations as a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats. In reality he is talking about people who care for those in need and those who don’t. The text was how they treated those who were hungry, thirsty, naked, a stranger or in prison. It is based on how we treat “…the least of these.” The bottom line is in verse 46, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: [those who did not help the needy], but the righteous into eternal life.” Even a cup of cold water is rewarded (Matthew 10:42).
An old illustration talks of two young brothers in a car wreck. The older needed a blood transfusion. The younger brother’s blood qualified—he agreed to give it. After they started drawing the blood he said, “So when am I going to die?” Years ago an innocent man on death row went to his execution for his guilty brother. He didn’t say a word, but showed love. He was Jesus, we are the brothers. This is LOVING IN DEED
