“People can say all kinds of things without ever opening their mouths.” Noah Hawley
Words do carry power, but your body language is shouting over them.
Albert Mehrabian, who performed research on verbal and non-verbal communication, determined that communication was 55% nonverbal, 38% verbal and 7% words only. Mehrabian found that where there were inconsistencies between the verbal and non-verbal cues during communication, the non-verbal cues would dominate to determine the attitude of the speaker.
So, if you were to tell someone, “I don’t have a problem with you,” but didn’t make eye contact and frowned while saying it, the person would believe the non-verbal cues over your statement, not believing what you said.
How we interact is as important as the words we say.
James goes beyond our non-verbal cues and talks about deliberate actions. Are you merely talking about your faith or putting it into action.
“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:15-17)
Jesus doesn’t want us to just be Christians at church and in our homes. When He said we were to love others, that is an action that must be performed outside the walls of the church. So get outside and put your faith in action.