"'The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." Matthew 23:2,3
As I woke up early and settled in for Bible study before heading to the pool and then work, I was immediately struck by the words written in red. The very words that Jesus used to convict the Pharisees were the very same words that were now convicting me. You see, not only had I been personally training directly contrary to the way I advise other runners to train, with continuous high mileage weeks and no rest (leading to a hamstring strain and subsequent rehab), the Lord revealed that there were other areas in my life where I was not 'practicing what I preach' as well. Ouch.
If we're honest though, most of us will admit telling people, especially our children, what they should do and then doing the opposite. Am I right? It might be something as small as commanding our kids to practice patience when we ourselves get irritated for being held up in the checkout line for more than five minutes. Or something as big as ordering people to obey important rules that we ourselves do not obey. Which is exactly what the Pharisees did, prompting Jesus to warn the people, "do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach."
So knowing that we are Christ's ambassadors and representatives, the last thing we should want is for our actions to not match our convictions my friend. This will serve to not only ruin our witness and jeopardize our integrity but to turn others away from the Lord. And that's the last thing we ever want to do.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the reminder that we preach more of a sermon with our actions than with our words. Help us to impact our children, our workplace and our world by being men and women of integrity who never compromise on our beliefs or do things contrary to what we teach others to do. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen.
Happy Running!!!
Let them see You - JJ Weeks
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