Friday, August 22, 2014

"Do as I say, not as I do..."


So it has been a long while since I have posted.. But remember, I only want to post here when God speaks something to me. I think I have missed posting a couple things in the year for sure, but I wasn't going to miss this one. 

"Do as I say, not as I do...."

Have you heard this before? Of course you have. How do you stack up?

As a Christian, (definition I live by: is a believer in Jesus Christ and his teachings) in other words a 
Follower… this little phrase “Do as I say, not as I do” can really be damaging to us.

When we are a “Follower” (definition again, a person who moves or travels behind someone or something) of Jesus that means that we put into practice what he says. We are making a choice to follow after the things of God and what his word says. Each and every day there is a battle to fight the temptation in our life – but we can do it!

OK, so why am I bring up this little phrase: “Do as I say, not as I do?” 

In our house, we have two small children, aged 4 and 2.  A priority to us in our home, is to raise them up FULLY knowing about Jesus, and Gods word. In hopes, that they too, one day, will make the decision to follow Jesus. One of the things I like to use as a parenting tactic, is “would that make Jesus smile?” When one of our children does something, like bite or slap the other; I will use the line about making Jesus smile. What I love about this one little line is it actually makes the child think! Even at age 2, my daughter will tell me, “No, it doesn’t” – and then I can ask her, “why not?” and she can answer! If I can use this little line on my kids, and for the most part, find that it works pretty well, and see that it tends to open my children’s eyes to what they should and shouldn’t be doing, then why can’t I use it on myself? Or I guess what I should be asking is, “why don’t I chose to use this on myself?”

If I would just stop and think before I acted, If I asked myself the same exact question and just thought before I acted, about putting a smile on Jesus’ face, maybe instead, I may be a MUCH better role model for my kids. But instead, what I see is, I find myself trying to teach them one thing, and without even noticing it, I find myself doing another. Wow.

This hit me pretty hard today, as I was driving. I just kept playing the phrase over and over in my head and thought, “that’s why the kids don’t always get it, I am not doing as I say, and my actions are NOT making Jesus smile, like they should.”

So shouldn’t it just be, “Do as I do.” Period. This way, if we want our kids to behave a certain way, speak a certain way, it SHOULD just come easy for them, right? After all, it’s what they are seeing that they model after.

We teach our kids to be a light to others, treat others as Jesus would treat them, love unconditionally, give with a loving heart, be thankful for all that you have, be thankful in all things good and bad, speak love, I could go on… but when it comes down to it, how am I doing on living out what I am trying to teach? Well, I have to say, there has been new light shed on this topic for me. I am going to pray and try daily, try hourly, to live like Jesus. I want to live for making him smile. Maybe someday, when I get to heaven, I will have the privilege of hearing him say “well done.” That’s my hope anyway. 

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