It was the middle of my freshman year in high school when the new kid arrived. And like most new arrivals, their first day is spent with glares and stares as everyone tries to determine which clique’ or group they might eventually join. The popular girls, the ones that dated the jocks and the guys with parental money burning holes their pockets or cars turned their noses at him. The smart kids pondered for a moment, but eventually saw something in the new kid that disqualified him from their intellectual party. The metal heads never took a second look at him, the lack of long hair immediately banned him from their head banging herd. And the Van Halen t-shirt was certainly a dead give-away that he was not destined for the hip-hop poses. Then there was the group I belonged to…we were the neutral party line, but to the rest of the school we were the misfits, the dorks, the weak and skinny kids. We were the ones that probably spent more time IN our locker instead of at our locker. Fortunately I was able to escape that torture my freshman year. Our clique’ pretty much accepted anyone. Until we met Derrick.

It wasn’t long before Derrick made himself comfortable in our group. There was something about him that intrigued us…at first. He told fascinating stories about his life in California before moving across the country to New Jersey (military family). Derrick was quickly becoming the cool kid of our clique because of the stories he told about his wild adventures. And let me say they were wild, a little too wild and unbelievable for us. He was always trying to out do someone else. If they had it, he had the best. If they did it, he did it better. He never stopped talking and to make matters worse he was arrogant about it. Eventually we found out his stories and adventures were all talk, and many of us from our group stopped hanging out with Derrick. The group that accepted anyone closed the door on one of its members.

Christians can be the same way, all talk and bragging about their faith, but that’s all it is…talk. They may know all the right words, but the way they live doesn’t reflect God’s power. Check out these verses: Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. – 1 Corinthians 4:18-20.

These verses are telling you and me that the kingdom of God is to be lived, not just talked about. There is a huge difference between saying and knowing the right words, and truly living them out. We should never be satisfied to only have the right answers about Jesus. We should live in such a way that our life’s show God’s power is really working in us. Jesus is not impressed with our knowledge of theology, but rather our obedience to the scriptures and our willingness to investigate the Truth.

Don’t end up like Derrick, someone who talks/brags so much that others push you away and don’t want anything to do with you.

Do you spend time talking about Jesus but not living for Jesus? Do your friends see Jesus in you or do they see someone just trying to boost their own ego or put on a good show for all the right people? Are you all talk and no action? Remember, “the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.”

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