Practice What You Preach

Do you practice what you preach?  Are you who you say you are?  

Dave Ramsey does.  For those of you not familiar with Dave Ramsey, in short he is a financial expert that has helped probably millions of people get out of debt, including me.  (Google him to find out more.)  

There are a few people turned off by Dave Ramsey.  Some of it is because he tells it exactly like it is and some of it is for his extreme ideas regarding debt and credit cards.  He hates them with a passion and will teach you to do the same.  Here is where the practice what you preach comes in.  I recently attended one of his EntreLeadership conferences here in OKC. (It was awesome!)  You can only register for this conference with cash, check, or debit card.  No credit cards.  One of his team members Jon Acuff was selling his new book at the conference.  Guess what.  They don't accept credit cards.  

This is something really small and really big at the same time.  He hates debt and credit cards so bad that he and his team members do not want to make money if it means someone potentially going into or adding to their debt.  It is not worth it to them.

This is the exact opposite of the do as I say, not as I do mentality. 

You can't teach your kids not to cuss if you cuss.  

You can't teach your students to be respectful if you don't model it.  

You can't preach to your church members to be a community and not be a part of a community.  

You can't tell people how much you hate credit cards and debt and then accept it as a form of payment.

For me, I can't blog about being a better husband and father while neglecting my wife and son.  

As parents, leaders, teachers, or anyone that someone looks up to, we must practice what we preach or we lose our influence.  If we really believe in it, our only preaching should be "Do as I do."  

Do you practice what you preach?   If not, you have 2 choices.  Stop preaching or start practicing.