Practice what you preach
Paul confronts the hypocrite
Paul turns a series of stinging questions on the person confident enough to instruct everyone else: you who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? It is possible to be an expert at telling others how to live and a failure at living it yourself.
Jesus said the same of the religious leaders of his day: they say, and do not do. The gap between a leader's message and a leader's life is the most corrosive thing in leadership, because it eventually discredits both the message and the messenger.
“You who teach another, don't you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn't steal, do you steal?”
— Paul — Romans 2:21 (WEB)
Don't preach what you won't practice. The gap between your message and your life eventually discredits both.
“All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don't do their works; for they say, and don't do.”
Paul exposes the leader who instructs others while neglecting himself. A leader formed here closes the gap between what he teaches and how he lives, knowing the role makes hypocrisy easy and especially damaging. He holds himself to his own message first. The inner work is practicing before preaching.
Hold yourself to the standards you set for others, and let people see you do it. Be slow to prescribe what you have not lived. Close known gaps between your message and your practice before they are discovered. Lead from a life that backs your words.
The platform of leadership makes it easy to prescribe for others what you have not done, and easy to miss your own gap. The blind spot is becoming an expert at telling others how to live while failing to live it.
Name one thing you regularly prescribe to others but do not practice yourself. This week, start practicing it before you preach it again.
The easiest place to be a hypocrite is leadership, because the role hands you a platform to prescribe for others what you have not done yourself. And nothing erodes trust faster than people discovering the gap between what you say and what you do.
Where is there a gap right now between what you preach to others and what you actually practice yourself?