Practice, Practice, Practice!

I ingrained that in our son as he was taking piano lessons from ages 8-18 and it paid off! He's played at 2 weddings, plays at 2 churches, and was asked to lead at a 3rd church. If he hadn't practiced, I doubt any of those would have happened.

Our daughter is a slightly different case. She never practices her drums, has played in a church worship band and at school in their worship band, and seems to pick up new techniques without blinking an eye. She's an exception, because she's gifted at it.

For most of us, our Christian walk lies somewhere in between. We are taught things week after week, in small group, on Sunday morning, and in our own times alone with God. The question is, how much do we practice what we've learned? Sure, some of us are gifted in certain areas and that makes it much easier to practice in that particular area, such as evangelism, hospitality, or generosity. But what happens if we never practice what we're learning? How effective would we be? The Bible talks about readying ourselves, or equipping ourselves, for the work before us. If a runner never runs, how fast would he be? Would he ever win a race without being specially gifted at it?

The first step in practicing is putting ourselves in situations where we can actually do what we've been taught. I've never had the gift of hospitality, but this last year, as we've had to host over 20 leadership meetings in our home, host prayer meetings and counseling and discipleship meetings, I've had lots of opportunities to practice hospitality. Now it doesn't bother me at all. I like cleaning the house and cooking and having people over. If I never placed myself in that position, however, I never would have overcome my fear and learned that I enjoy it.

As you learn new aspects of your Christian walk, I challenge you to ask yourself how you can put yourself in new environments to foster what you're learning, then practice, practice, practice! Whether it's evangelism, compassion, forgiveness, service, or something else, continually put into practice what you're learning.

Blessings on this odd-weather day!