He Requires More than Words

There is a secular song called “More Than Words” (1991) that has been a running theme in many of the recent devotions the Lord has been giving me to write. So, I thought I would share some of the lyrics here with you:

 

Saying I love you

Is not the words I want to hear from you

It's not that I want you

Not to say, but if you only knew

How easy it would be to show me how you feel

More than words is all you have to do to make it real

Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me

Cos I'd already know

[BETTENCOURT, NUNO / CHERONE, GARY F.]

 

And this is a running theme throughout the Scriptures, too, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, and it is God who is speaking these words to those who profess his name, and he is letting them know that lip service alone will not do. He wants us to show him love by what we do.

 

There is a running joke, which I don’t find humorous, which has a man speaking to his wife saying, “I told you I loved you when I married you. If I change my mind, I will let you know.” The joke gives the impression that once said always said, even if no actions have followed to prove it true.

 

I think most married people want “more than words,” though. For, words can be so superficial. Words alone can be just words and nothing more, especially if the actions of a spouse are the exact opposite of those words. For, if we mouth “I love you” and then we cheat and lie, that is not love.

 

Romans 12:1-2 NIV

 

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

 

This was Paul, as given the words to speak of the Holy Spirit, letting us know that God/Jesus Christ wants from us “more than words.” He wants more than our verbal professions of faith in Jesus Christ, and more than our verbal confessions of him as Lord. He wants us fully surrendered to him.

 

By faith in Jesus Christ, we are to offer our lives (our bodies) to Christ as living sacrifices, surrendered to him, holy and pleasing to him. And holy means to be set apart from the world because we are being made into the likeness of Christ. And this is pleasing to God/Jesus.

 

What this means is that we have given up our old lives of living for sin and self and we are now choosing to live our lives in the power of God free from the control of sin and empowered of God’s Spirit to now be slaves of God and of his righteousness (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24).

 

And this is our true worship of God. For, we can call it worship when we sing songs in a “worship service,” but it isn’t worship if our lives are not surrendered to Christ, holy and pleasing to him. Then it is just words, and he wants more than words.

 

So, God wants us to no longer conform our lives to the ways of this sinful world, but he wants us transformed (changed) by the renewing (restarting) of our minds (our thinking and believing). For, Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24).

 

So, when we believe in Jesus with God-persuaded and God-ordained faith, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are resurrected with Christ to newness of life in him, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:17-24; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9).

 

So, we put off our old lives of living for sin and self and now we follow Jesus Christ with our lives in surrender to his will for our lives and in walks of obedience to his commands. We aren’t perfect people, but we are no longer making sin our practice, and we are walking in obedience to our Lord.

 

I Surrender All  

 

Hymn lyrics by Judson W. Van De Venter, 1896

Music by Winfield S. Weeden, 1896

 

… Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee. (Mark 10:28)

 

All to Jesus I surrender,

All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him,

In His presence daily live.

 

All to Jesus I surrender,

Humbly at His feet I bow;

Worldly pleasures all forsaken,

Take me, Jesus, take me now.

 

All to Jesus I surrender,

Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;

Let me feel the Holy Spirit,

Truly know that Thou art mine.

 

All to Jesus I surrender,

Lord, I give myself to Thee;

Fill me with Thy love and power,

Let Thy blessing fall on me.

 

I surrender all,

I surrender all;

All to Thee, my blessed Savior,

I surrender all.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2BnL_zI7uw