PREACH WHAT YOU PRACTICE

I am a chief hypocrite in 2 ways. I speak of things that I do not and cannot live. I live convictions that I do not speak.
 
My dad used to say that you could fall off either side of a horse. There is nothing harder to take than hypocrisy - someone not practicing what they preach to others. But there is something as hard to take: someone not preaching what they live, what they believe. I fail miserably in both.
 
Regarding the former, because of my pride; regarding the latter, because of my cowardice.
 
One indicator regarding my 'health' in hypocrisy - or in practicing what I preach - is how I deal with others not practicing what they preach. CS Lewis once wrote, 'We must not be pharisaical, even to Pharisees.' I have been at my most judgmental when I denounce a judgmental person.
 
Jesus, in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’, levels the playing field, puts the man who calls a man a 'fool',
shoulder to shoulder with the murderer; puts a man who lusts in his heart, side by side with the adulterer. Even the archangel, Michael, rebuked the devil, not by judging him, but by saying, 'The Lord rebuke you.' (Jude 1:9)
 
My passive hypocrisy can be considered, at least on one level, regarding what I do believe to be true, but do not 'preach' - or what I do not own and make known. 'He who knows the good he ought to do, but does not do it, is guilty of sin.' (James 4:17).
 
I believe certain things to be wrong - for me and for everyone - but I do them, and I do not speak out against them.