Friday, March 16, 2012

Do As I Say....

Do as I say - not do as I do.  Think about this - how are we living out our lives as modern disciples of Jesus if we do not practice what we preach?  Is it honest to proclaim one thing - to urge others to do that which we ourselves do not do?  Many years ago I had a physician who basically forced me to have a hernia operation that I did not want done. Honestly - I was fearful for a bad outcome. My doctor urged and urged me until I finally gave in and had the surgery.  Everything went fine and afterwards I was happy that I went ahead with the procedure.  However,  when I was discussing the operation with the physician who had urged me to have it fixed - he admitted that he also had a hernia that needed repair but had not had it done.  When I asked him what he was waiting for he declared that he was afraid of surgery.  I lost almost all respect for him upon hearing that - how could he have the gall to push me into having a surgical procedure done on my body when he was afraid to have it done on his body?  In retrospect I am happy that he pushed me into the procedure - but I still ask myself how can you tell people to do something that you would not do yourself?  


When I discuss prayer with people - quite often they tell me how hard it is to find time to pray or how difficult it is to go to a quiet place and talk with God.  I can only tell them that I can relate one-hundred percent with them - because even though I am ordained - I too, have a hard time, on occasion, to find the time that I need to devote to prayer.  We are all very similar - we have busy lives and although we have the best intentions - we are not always able to accomplish even a simple thing like talking to God in prayer.  My best advice is just stick with it.  If you miss morning prayer - you can always try again in the afternoon or evening.  The point is to not quit - but to hang in there - after all when Jesus was dying on the cross He could have quit - but because of His love for us - He hung in there.


Deacon Dale