I remember a story that Johnny Warren the soccer bloke who died last year told in a coaching clinic I went to back in the 1970’s.
He told the story of an Irish kid who was told by his coach to practice kicking with the instep of the foot. Use both feet but practice using the inside of the foot. Now this kid was used to play football every afternoon but for a whole week but for that week he wasn’t seen by his mates at all. The next week at football training, the coach asked why he hadn’t been playing football with the other kids.
His reply was that he didn’t know what else to practice so he practiced what he knew he had to. He had stayed home and practiced kicking at football against the wall every afternoon with the inside of his foot. He practiced what he knew to practice.
He grew up to be George Best. One of the iconic footballers of all time.
While thinking about this story I realized – there is some wisdom in that concept.
We have information – we need to practice it.
The 10 Commandments. – A list of lifestyle instructions. Now we are not going to talk specifically about the items listed but about how to practice them.
- Do it. Practising is having a go. Lets have a look here.
EX 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Ok – sometimes swearing becomes part of people’s lives. Actually – blasphemy does. Oh God and Jesus become part of exclamation. It has become cultural.
And sometimes for people it is hard to eliminate from the vocabulary.
So lets look at a process.
When it is said. Say – wrong word. Sorry Lord. Then think of a word you could use instead.
Next time try to eliminate it all together by using that different word.
But go through the process each time.
Does it work – Well it did for me. I had issues with some words and due to the company I kept it was hard to eliminate them from use. But with God’s help by using this practice method – it worked – mostly – it is still sometimes hard.
- Make it part of life.
What I mean here is that make your beliefs part of what you do.
A perfect example of this is EX 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates Now this is a tricky one but look at the principal. Keep the Sabbath. Most of us think of the Sabbath as Sunday – it isn’t and never has been. It is the period from friday night to Saturday night. We get together on Sunday to commemorate Jesus rising from the dead.But look at the principal. Have a rest. Once a week. Why? Because God tells you to. So put it into practise. Now I have Friday off, because Sunday is not a day off for me. But often, I work – I am wrong doing this and allowing people to talk me into it. On the same token, I am wrong to expect you to work 7 days straight.But what is work.
Labour. Employment. What about mowing the lawn. Well if you think that is work – Don’t do it on your Sabbath. Most are blest to have a weekend. Use one for Sabbath and one for the work of the house. You know where the weekend came from – Jews having their Sabbath and Christians having their Lord’s Day.
I have to consider this verse God speaking to me at the moment. I have only had 2 Fridays off since the middle of December. Now I didn’t work the whole day but the principal is to have a total change.
It takes some working through but make it your lifestyle. Now the other commandments need to be worked into lifestyle as well. No lying, no stealing work these things into every aspect of life.
- Be committed to it.
Lets look at Jesus way of dealing with the commandments. Great commandments
MT 22:37 Jesus replied: ” `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Notice it says – all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.
It is all or nothing.
Commitment is total. Not just practice it, then let it be lifestyle but have it become your total ethos. Your total person is characterized by loving God.
It becomes who you are. It becomes what you are known for, it becomes your priorities.
The cool thing about this is – it isn’t just heart, soul and mind – we can express it –
Love others. We can do it practically.
But hey it take commitment. Practise that commitment, make it part of life – commit yourself to it.
- Give it away.
NO where in scripture do we see that our relationship to God is to be selfishly kept.
The principal of living Christian is if you have it use it for God and give it to someone else.
Look at the great commission.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Take what you have and use it.
That is what loving God is about. Committed to God means we do what he requests. We are requested here to do something. Love our neighbour by discipling them.
Teaching the command thingys. Teaching them to apply the lifestyle to themselves. Teaching them to be committed.
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