Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

 

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.”

—1 Timothy 4:7 NIV

You’ve heard the expression, “Practice Makes Perfect.” From painful personal experience, I’ve learned that more accurately, “Perfect Practice Makes Perfect.”

As a life-long pianist—having studied in my youth for nearly 20 years with professional teachers and having taught piano to young students myself—I know, all too well, the results of bad practice. My first teacher, a nurturing, patient woman who forever placed in me the love for playing, knowing her own inadequacies, nevertheless did her best to give me a good foundation.

However, I developed habits of poor technique that followed me into my college years. For example, my pinkies had to learn to stand up and I had to help them develop strength and usefulness as “leads” in the making of sonorous melodies. My college professor gave me humiliatingly boring exercises to break many of my bad habits. But, oh, the results I achieved!

Christians develop wrong habits too. Many of them come with us from our lives as unbelievers: selfish and even unaware of God’s higher standards. We may not have spread “godless myths and old wives’ tales,” as the people in Timothy’s churches. But, we may have learned, for example, to run to friends with juicy tidbits of gossip we hear.

Paul warns the believers in Colossians 3:9:

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

The practice of lying, or stretching the truth, or deceiving another with a skewed report, can be a habit especially hard to break.

I found in playing piano, that often in practice time, my mind would go on “automatic pilot.” My mind would not pay attention what I was playing. So, to break old habits and form new ones, we must first engage our focus. Secondly, we must determine to obey God through His word. Then, the long slow process of practice will need perseverance and patience.

How long before a new habit takes hold? Note this report from an on-line article by Signe Dean:

…according to a 2009 study, the time it takes to form a habit really isn’t that clear-cut. Researchers from University College London examined the new habits of 96 people over the space of 12 weeks, and found that the average time it takes for a new habit to stick is actually 66 days; furthermore, individual times varied from 18 to a whopping 254 days.¹

Progress in making a change in our spiritual lives will sometimes go slowly. Mistakes will occur. Yet, to attain a mature Christian life, the practice and re-practice will yield great results.

In speaking about Christian maturity, the author of Hebrews writes about the need for believers to grow up from drinking only milk to eating solid food. In Hebrews 5:14, we read:

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

God expects us as mature, or “perfect,” disciples to give up the old ways and practice the holy disciplines and habits that will result in greater glory for Him through our lives.

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1 Dean, Signe. Here’s How Long it Takes to Break a Habit, According to Science. www.sciencealert.com, September 24, 2015.