“Practice.
Man we talking about practice. It’s just practice.” – Alan Iverson
Probably not the greatest moment of this man’s
professional NBA career. Alan Iverson will always be known for his immature, and
unprofessional televised rant about being fined and punished for missing team practices. He missed them because he didn’t value them. He couldn’t see the
importance of giving himself to practicing and striving for excellence. He
was gifted without a doubt, but he was immature as well. I’m not sure if he has
yet to obtain a championship yet, or if he ever will. He will always be
known for being the million dollar player who didn’t want to practice.
Practice. Practice. Practice. Paul begins this
portion of scripture by commanding the church in Phillip to keep putting into
practice all that they had learned from him. We are all familiar with the phrase
‘practice makes perfect.’ However I would rather remind
you that practice does not in fact make anyone perfect. According to the scripture, he who began a
good work will faithful bring that work to completion. Practice does not make
one perfect. Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith does. He and he alone
brings imperfect and incomplete things into wholeness, and perfection,
including you and me. I know this much, if Jesus is the one doing the work, it
will be completed and if he is the one working in you with all your
imperfections you will one day be perfect.
Practice does not make perfect. What it actually
does is cause a person to become consistent. Perfection is not what is needed
on the basketball court or in the battlefield. What is needed is consistency.
Champions aren’t known for perfection, they are recognized because of
consistency. Practice causes one to be consistent. Consistency wins the battle,
not perfection. What Paul is doing is encouraging them to continue to be
overcoming, not by trying to be perfect bit rather reinforcing their
consistency.
Alan Iverson didn’t want to go to practice because
he felt he did not need them because he was already the ‘perfect player’ and
that practices were somehow beneath him. He felt that he was already ‘good
enough’. What he failed to realize is that practice was not about
becoming perfect, it was about become consistent. Practice was not just about
him preparing to win, it was also about him learning how to be a winner.
Practice will position you to one day
become perfect. What we must always remember is
that there is a way to win, but it has got to be learned. And the
idea of learning comes up over and over again throughout this portion of
scripture. God is not expecting us to be perfect, he is expecting us
to be consistent. As we remain consistent, he will handle the ‘perfecting’.
So what is it exactly that they were supposed to put
into practice? What Paul instructs them to put into practice is all they had
learned from him. They were to put into practice all they had seen him do, and
heard him say. If they were to do this
constantly, then Paul says to them that the God of peace will be with you. That is the result of not living perfectly, but rather living
consistently. There is a big difference between knowing about God and actually
knowing God.
We are expected to live out what we have been shown
and what we have heard. If you want the peace of God than you have to continue
to put into practice all he has shown, and has said to you. The truth is that
of you desire more peace in your life, then you must walk closely with the God
of peace. Is it possible for you and I to be close to God? Yes! By continuously
putting into practice what we have learned from him.
No comments:
Post a Comment