I have always been one who loves to be in competition and sports fed my hunger for that. I think that my high school wrestling coach was even more competitive than I was. I am pretty sure he had obsessive compulsive disorder when it came to his team being as close to perfect as a team could get with technique and application of their craft. He would remind us every practice in not so polite ways that, “Practice makes perfect!”. I had some bad dreams with him yelling, “AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN!!!!!”, only to find out that I was awake and at practice. UUUUGH!!!!
His pressing us toward perfection carried over into other sports for me. When I was a yell leader in college, that drive to do everything as perfectly as I could, made me spend hours tumbling and stunting every week to be ready for game day.
You might be wondering what brought this “practice makes perfect” thing to my mind after all these years?” Well, I am going to tell you. (Whether you want to hear it or not.)
I was listening to the radio the other day and one of the DJs was talking about how man has had almost six thousand years to perfect the craft of sin.
At first I was like, “That is so true, he really has.”, but as I thought about it more I decided that that is not true. Man didn't need to perfect that craft. It was a perfected craft almost from the get go. Man didn't have to perfect it because satan had already perfected the craft of being in direct opposition to God, before man was ever around. That doesn't mean that we have’t continued to practice and practice and practice. In Fact maybe that practice to perfection has driven us to live in an ongoing game day of rebellion and disobedience. I know that we (mankind) are very good at it.
Just as in a sport you know that the other team is doing the same thing and that is what drives each side to work harder. I am so thankful for the fact that there is an opposing team to our rebellious craft and that team doesn't even have to practice to be perfect, because God is already so perfect in His knowledge, wisdom and grace that he had a game plan before the other team was even on the field.
Try as we may to fight againstGod and his ways there is never a time when God cannot reach even the person with the most practice at living in opposition to Him.
This is what we as believers and the church are all about, “The wondrous and powerful love of a gracious and forgiving God. A God that never sees anyone as a lost cause. A God that pursues His prized creation and is not willing to lose any, but yet He loves us enough to allow us to make our own decisions even if it breaks His heart.
Sometimes it is easy to forget that God loves His creation so much that He was willing to give His only son as a payment for the debt that their rebellion has created.
The best way to always keep that in the front of our mind is to practice. God reminds us in scripture of what we need to practice.
In our practice we are to make a decision every day as to who or what we are going to follow and serve. In that decision we are encouraged to draw near to the one who loves us and hold strong to the faith that we have chosen to have. Not only should we walk by that faith but we should walk in it. Faith is what draws us closer to God and helps us live a life that exemplifies The one who gives us life, hope, love and purpose.
To steal from God’s word (Oops! There is that practice again, “stealing”.) We live by faith and not by sight. If we practice living by the faith we claim to have, then we will be more likely to have that faith show itself in our actions, attitudes, words and relationships.
This may sound cliche, but it is so true, the more we practice the better we will perform.
I don't know about you but I am going to practice more on living by faith and less on living by sight.
So let us practice being on guard, Standing firm in faith, being courageous and strong and seeking the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind. (There I go once more, stealing. LOL!)
Now let’s get to it: practice, practice, Practice, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!!!!
See you on the Game Field!
(Places I stole from: Hebrews 10.22-23; Psalm 119.30; 2 Corinthians 5.7; James 2.18; 1 Corinthians 16.13; Mark 12.30-31)
- Pastor Sean