Put Some Pants On!

Life is complicated; the endless array of choices and opportunities for decisions is relentless.  Why just the other day I had to decide whether to eat a ham or tuna sandwich for lunch, oatmeal or eggs for breakfast and ice cream or a cookie for supper.  In my earlier years of life I would have said yes to all of it, but now after more than half a century of life, my metabolism as well as my gastric system are not what they used to be. 

It is not just about food; the complications in life carry over into all aspects of living.  For example, getting dressed is also complicated.  Not only must I choose whether to sit down to put on my socks or take the risk of standing and hopping on one foot hoping that today is not my last day of living should I fall and hit my head on the coffee table, but I must also choose what clothes to wear. 

This may not seem like such a big deal, but it is when your wife is demanding that your young children wear pants, boots, coats, hats and mittens to go out into the frozen tundra of a Minnesota winter and you walk out wearing shorts and a long sleeve t shirt. 

“How can I ask the kids to wear warm clothes outside when you don’t?”

“I will tell them.”

“What are you going to say?”

“Simple…two things. One, Listen to your mother! And two, do as I say don’t do as I do!”

Sadly, this hasn’t been the only time when my words and actions haven’t lined up.  In fact, my complicated life has revealed over and over again my areas of shortcomings. 

I have come to believe that my children and people broadly, learn more from observation than instruction.  In other words, when my children see what I do, they are much more likely to do likewise, rather than if I just instruct them to do so. 

If I had valued wearing pants in the winter…who knows…perhaps my children would have valued it as well. When I come to them and admit of my shortcomings and ask for their forgiveness, I hope that they too will value truth and authenticity. 

Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 23:1-12.  Here, Jesus reveals how the religious leaders spoke many good and true things to the people, yet they did not practice what they preached. 

May we come to hear what Jesus says…and put it into practice, so that people will be drawn to Him and His truth.