Practice Makes Perfect

1 John 3:7-10 (NASB)

 

At one time, I decided I wanted to be a better tennis player.  I had never taken any lessons – I was basically self-taught.  So, I signed up for a class at OSU.  As you could imagine, I had developed some bad habits that kept me from improving my game, especially my backhand.  The instructor set up a pitching machine across the net from me, aiming it to spit out balls to my left side.  Week after week the pitching machine and I had a date on the court, repeating good backhand form – until my swing became second-nature. 

In the passage for today, John contrasts two kinds of practices: practicing righteousness and practicing sinning.  We are either God’s children or the devil’s, and we show it by what we practice.  We get better at what we repeat.  If we keep repeating a sin-pattern, such as lying, we get “good” at it, it becomes a habit.  

 

And, likewise, if we belong to God, we will practice righteousness and love, and we will forsake the practice of sin.  It becomes a lifestyle of acting in accordance with God’s will.  Of course, we will sin – because that’s who we are by nature, but, according to John, we will show to whom we belong, God or Satan, by how we strive to follow either righteousness or sin.

 

In 1Tim 6:11, Paul commends Timothy to “…pursue righteousness…,” and he sees scripture as essential for training Christians in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16).  Just as I pursued training to become skilled at tennis, so we as Christians must pursue God’s word, so that we may be “…equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:17).”

 

Question:  Is it obvious by what behaviors I practice that I am God’s child?

 

Dear Lord, thank you that because of Christ’s redemptive work, You already count me as righteous.  But, please keep me from being deceived into thinking that I may live with habitual sins and still be seen as belonging to You.  Keep me growing in Your word, and give me Your strength to pursue righteousness – that I may be equipped for service, thus making it obvious to those around me that I am Your child.  For Jesus’ sake, Amen.