DO WHAT I SAY AND NOT WHAT I DO

I have always bristled under counsel/advice that adheres to the ole slogan, "Do what I say and not what I do." I always felt that this kind of advice was so hypocritical. Today as I mulled on Proverbs 3, I thought of Solomon, the author of this and some 3,000 proverbs, who did not fully allow his own counsel to guide his life. Since he had so many wives and Heaven only knows, how many children, I wonder to whom he is addressing Proverbs 3 with the words,"My son"? 

In spite of Solomon's flaws one would be very wise to accept the teachings of 3:3,"Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Sounds like wise advice regardless of Solomon's flawedness!  What the old sage is really saying, Graves' non-inspired version: "When you get too big for your britches, you will allow mercy and integrity slip from you hands.It would be wise to wear them as a necklace around your neck and to engrave the initials of M and I on your soul(mind, will, and emotions). It seems when we are doing well financially, emotionally, and spiritually, we might have a tendency to become sloppy in the area of kindness and integrity. Solomon counsels me to be very intentional about these two characters...bind seems to suggest that I must WEAR these two character qualities in my daily walk.  The next thought is the reason for binding the two character qualities to myself: "Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."  Like it or not, our lives are an advertisement that we are Christ followers and sometimes we sin, or that we are Christ followers but choose to walk in continual disobedience.Forever learning! In process! #IHAVETHREESONS