"PRACTICE MAKES
PERFECT......OR DOES IT?"
You likely have heard that phrase somewhere along the way.....practice makes perfect. Maybe from a teacher or a ball coach. Maybe from your parents. I'm quite certain that in my years as a piano teacher, I said it myself. Always with a smile on my face, I'm sure, as I uttered that mantra....practice makes perfect.....while at the same time giving instruction to do it again.
Over the years I have come to believe that phrase is not entirely accurate. Practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect. After all, if you continually practice something......whether a piano scale or a multiplication table or an athletic technique......incorrectly, the end result is that you have learned the wrong thing!
What is the point of practice anyway? Of those endless repetitions? Practice serves more than just filling time. Some might say that practice is done in order to get it right, whatever the "it" might be, whether in music or in math or in athletics or in any other endeavor. And I suppose that is true. But I think practice is more than that. The point is not that we always get it right. It's so that we never get it wrong.
Let's apply that point to multiplication tables as an example. If you drill repeatedly (practice) on your 9 times table, for example, you will learn that 9x7=63. Once you have practiced that enough, you will always know that 9x7=63. Further, you will never think that 9x7=72, or any other number. Always and only 63. You won't have to stop and try to figure it out. Or count it out on your fingers. Or question whether or not it is true. If you have practiced enough, if you have learned this fact well, then you will always instinctively know it. You will always get it right.
If a pianist practices the C major scale repeatedly, and correctly, so that the notes and the finger pattern is learned, then that pianist will always be able to correctly play that scale without even having to think about it. It becomes an ingrained habit, one that aids in playing more complex pieces of music. And it’s all because of perfectly practicing that very basic C major scale.
Let’s apply that principle to the spiritual realm. The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to "charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith......by [this] some have made shipwreck of their faith. (1 Timothy 1:3-4, 19 ESV).
How do we hold to sound doctrine? How do we practice our doctrine in such a way as not to "make a shipwreck of our faith"? I have come to understand that the place to begin is in the Word of God itself. I long to know what God has to say, rather than relying solely on what others say about Him. I hunger for the Word of God, rather than relying on books about the Word of God.
I have learned that I must immerse myself in the Word of God. When I read it regularly and repeatedly and hide it in my heart, it becomes so ingrained in me that I recognize with certainty when something I hear is contrary to the Word. My senses become finely tuned to what God has to say. The Word becomes my plumb line against which everything else is measured. I know exactly where to turn when questions come.
I desire to get it right, and not get it wrong! Does this mean I will never make a mistake? Does it mean that you will never make a mistake? No. Even the best batter sometimes swings at a bad pitch. Even the best musician sometimes plays a wrong note. Applying the practice makes perfect principle won’t make us perfect people, but it will give us the tools we need to make wise, godly choices in our daily living.
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15 NASB)
