Practice What You Preach

Practice What You Preach

“All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭23:3‬

My grandparents appeared to have a great, loving relationship. They were always laughing with each other and talking and seemed to have little sayings for everything. 

If my grandfather did something that he advised my grandmother against, she would say, “practice what you preach John”. 

This happened most often in the car if my grandmother would look over at the speedometer and notice that he was speeding. 

We’ve all been there. We’ve told someone else not to do something, and next thing you know, they are watching us do it. 

It seems innocent enough right? Until the consequences of our action far outweighs the intentions of our thoughts. 

You can have the greatest of intentions for something bad not to happen. But once the outcome is horrible, it won’t matter what the intentions were. 

This is especially true if you’ve ever done something that someone else advised you against, and of all people, they saw you do it. Especially if you have ever told them not to do the same thing. Doubly bad now. 

In my case, I am great at saying how everything should be at home. “Pick up after yourselves, shut doors, put food away, etc.”. 

My wife will come home after work and take her shoes off and leave them by the door. I’m always picking them up and moving them to the closet. I always say to her, “pick your shoes up before someone trips on them”.  (I’m usually the one tripping on them)

So what do I do. I leave my shoes by the door. 

When we advise someone against something and then we do it ourselves, it lowers our credibility. Or the person will ask themselves, “why is it that they can do it after the told me not to”?  

It so hard to get it right all the time, that’s why we aren’t expected to. 

What is important, as Jesus said in the verse above, is that we do as we say we are going to do. 

If we tell someone something, isn’t it better that we also be the example?

Jesus was a great example. In fact, he’s the best example to follow. 

“Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭2:23‬