Practice Makes Perfect - Or Does it?

We have all probably heard the old saying “practice makes perfect.” This is probably true, for without practice we could do nothing well. The continual repetition of something makes it easier and easier. The pianist must play every day, the athlete must practice to keep fit, and the teacher must continually study to be able to teach. It has been impressed upon us from childhood that to do anything well, we must practice.

There is no difference between the way to be able to perform well in our job or profession and to be a Christian. It takes practice. Paul tells Timothy to be diligent so as not to be ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15.) It causes great embarrassment for a person not to be able to perform well at his job because he does not know enough about it. This embarrassment will be greatly magnified if we stand ashamed before God (2 Timothy 3:16,17.) But we must practice that word.

If we become more proficient in what we do by repetition, it can work for the bad as well as the good. That is, the more often we do something that is displeasing to God, the easier it becomes for us to do it. God’s word says in 1 John 3:9, 10, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” This tells us that if we are “born of God” we will not practice sin. If we have been born again, we have put off our old nature and will not want to make sin a part of our life. John says if we “do not do what is right” we are not of God. Then if we repeat that which is not righteous, we practice that which makes us imperfect!

What is righteousness? Psalm 119:172 says, “My tongue will speak of your word: for all your commandments are righteousness.” Are we practicing righteousness before God? Each time we repeat something it becomes easier to do next time. Practice does not always make one perfect. Be careful what you practice. It becomes your life. Make it positive.

See you when the saints meet, Lord willing.

Love, Tony