Actions Speak Louder Than Words

“Greet each other with a kiss of love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5:14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A kiss of love was a common greeting showing affection to a friend. This wasn't a romantic kiss like a man and woman would share. Men would greet men and women would greet women. This kept the kiss appropriate. This was not an acceptation of any form of same sex affection and was possibly a peck on each cheek. This was brotherly affection. Brothers and sisters in Christ were encouraged by Peter to affirm their love for one another. Jesus is the love of God manifest. Jesus said that the world would know that we are His disciples if we love one another (see John 13:34-35). In I John 4:7-8 we read “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” NLT‬‬ Although we do not give "holy kisses" in our culture, we are,  most certainly commanded to love each other and to demonstrate that love in our appropriate display of affection (words of brotherly affection or acts of kindness). We cannot truly call ourselves followers of Christ and hate our brothers and sisters. “If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:14-18‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Actions speak louder than words!!