Do as I say, not as I do.
I started thinking about that phrase as I was thinking about the implications of Paul’s advice in 1 Timothy that I discussed yesterday.
Through the mid 20th century, there were role models. Teachers were supposed to exhibit good behaviour, for example. Priests and preachers. I remember a young teacher we had when I was upper class in high school. She was doing something in the cafeteria that she would have admonished a student for doing. She used that phrase.
I heard many education students when I was an undergrad at the university also comment that their behaviour should not be a factor in their teaching. Some preachers/pastors have been prone to the fallacy of thinking that their words should be separated from their deeds.
Paul advises women to be modest and male church leaders to live lives above reproach. Americans read this and are shocked. “You mean we are supposed to act like we tell others?”
Parents learn (too late sometimes) that children mimic what they do, not what they say.
So, don’t do as my colleague, who suggested that if Paul had proof-read what he wrote he would have deleted parts of 1 Timothy. No, he wouldn’t have. His vision of a church was one in which people acted out in life the beliefs that they hold about how God wants us to live.
We may struggle to behave as we wish, but at least we shun hypocrisy.
Faith Venture 
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