|
I guess that the way we use our language sometimes bothers me. I really
hate to think of a physician as being one who "practices medicine". I
guess that I don't mind so much that he's practicing on others; I just
don't want a doctor to practice on me. I would prefer that my doctor
knew everything and didn't need to practice. I know that all of this
sounds like silliness, but we are going somewhere.
I like my doctor. Over the years I've been treated by what I would I
would call bad doctors, and also by what I would call good doctors.
The doctor that I now see is definitely what I would call one of the
better ones. All of these doctors had one thing in common; they were
"practicing" medicine. Practicing is a good word for it. Each was
repetitively doing the work of a physician. And hopefully, each was
improving upon their performance of medicine due to the repetition.
When we look at it this way, who would want a doctor who wasn't
practicing medicine? Practice makes perfect.
Shaquille O'Neal is a great basketball player. The fact that he is 7'
1" tall, weighs 315 pounds, and has agility equal to much smaller men,
has helped him to be a great basketball player. Such advantages would
give him some success at the sport if he never practiced. But I doubt
that he would be an NBA star without the practice that he puts in day
after day. Practice makes perfect.
The truth is that practice without some God given talent will not bring
greatness. The reverse also seems true. God given talent without
practice will not bring greatness. It is the repetition of that which
God gives you that brings about perfection. Practice makes perfect.
Philippians 4 (NIV)
9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or
seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
I chose
the NIV for this verse because of the word practice. The other versions
simply say, "do". And isn't that what practicing is, the repetitive
doing of an activity. Paul was saying that we should examine his life
(subsequent to his conversion), whatever we know about it, and practice
those things. In return the God of peace will be with us.
The life of Paul as we know it, was exemplary. He shows us in this text
that the practice of our faith has some similarity to practice in other
areas. He recognized that apart from God given ability, practice of his
faith in and of itself could not bring about excellence. What he said
here, however, is that if faith was practiced, then God would be with
us, and ability would be there. Practice makes perfect.
If we aren't becoming better Christians each day, it is not because God
is withholding the ability. We can claim inability in sports. We can
claim inability in medicine. But we cannot claim inability in our faith
or in our walk by faith. If we aren't becoming better Christians each
day it's because we aren't practicing. Practice makes perfect.
|
