Psalms 1:1  Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

In yesterday’s devotional, we wrote about the experiences two of our sons, Jamie and Andrew, had in gymnastics.  Good intentions and hard work did not bring excellence when they were at the first gymnastics club.  Their gymnastics routines had too many things wrong with them that were not dealt with.

When they transferred to the 2nd club where they became champions, it wasn’t a matter of just learning what the routines were supposed to look like.  Steve, the new coach had to work with them to undue all the bad habits that they had developed.  This was a challenge all in itself.  Bad process leads to bad results.  Watching video of themselves, they could see how they were doing things incorrectly.  By eliminating the bad habits, Steve was able to help them develop the good practice habits that would lead to excellence.

Fortunately at the new gymnastics club, there were a bunch of other quality gymnasts.  Jamie and Andrew could see others performing their routines correctly.  The gymnasts helped one another – pointing out glitches and helping each other to learn to do it right.  All of these gymnasts wanted to win, not only as individuals, but as a team.  In order to win, their performances had to meet gymnastics’ standards.

Many Christians today find themselves with habit patterns consistent with our sons’ first gym.  Good intentions, fun and participation are the rule.  Unfortunately, all manner of bad habits and bad practices (read that sin) abound because their lives are more formed by culture than by God’s word.  Worse still is the reality that these bad habits produce a spiritual deafness to the Holy Spirit making it more difficult to hear Him speak: Stop!  Don’t go there!  Don’t watch that.  Come this way.

The great news is that God doesn’t want to leave us there.  Once we recognize that our lives must be filled with His excellence, and choose to truly be His disciple, He will help us undue all the bad “practice habits” and show us how to do everything the right way.  After all, He is the best Coach there is!

To be continued…