Practice What I Preach

When was the last time you heard someone say, “Do as I say and not as I do?” Such a statement could be made by people we call hypocrites. I must confess that I’m guilty of saying one thing and then doing the opposite. For instance as I teach Greg to drive I tell him to watch his speed, but then I drive over the speed limit. I justify this inconsistency by telling him that I can pay the fine if I get a ticket, but he can’t. Poor logic I know. I’ve also been guilty of telling the kids they can’t have ice cream during the day because it is for an evening snack, but you’ve guessed it; I’ve had ice cream in the middle of the afternoon.

With such a confession it could call into question other things I say. Am I guilty of being a hypocrite? My desire as a pastor is that what I say and how I live line up; I don’t want inconsistencies in my lifestyle to bring the message of God’s word into question. I want to practice what I preach.

[2] "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. [3] You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer.
Matthew 23:2-3 (MsgB)

What most people don’t realize is that Jesus did not oppose most of what the Pharisees taught. These religious leaders were the experts in God’s law and accurately taught what God required to live a righteous life. Instead Jesus more often pointed out that the Pharisees were hypocrites or as the NIV puts it “they do not practice what they preach.”

The problem with the Pharisees was threefold:

1. They elevated their man-made traditions and rules to the same level as God’s law.
2. They told people how they should live (both by God’s law and the Pharisaical law), but they didn’t always live that way.
3. Finally, the motives of the Pharisees were often wrong; they didn’t obey the law to please God but to make themselves look good in the eyes of other people.

Have we made the same mistakes? Do we live by our own set of rules; do we say one thing but do the other; do we have wrong motives for what we do? For me I want the answer to those questions to be a resounding “No!” I want to live by God’s rules consistently to please Him. Let’s be ‘people of the Book’ and live our lives to glorify Jesus our Lord.