What We Practice, We Become

When I was in high school, I played football and soccer for a couple of seasons, but my main sport was basketball.   I played it competitively from 6th grade through my senior year. 

I can't tell you how many hours I spent practicing my shooting, dribbling, and rebounding, both at home and on the basketball court, but it must have been well beyond the 10,000-hour mark.  

One of the things my high school basketball coach told me that I remember to this day is simply this:  "You play like you practice."  

What he meant was, if you took practice seriously and practiced as hard as you would play in an actual game, you have a much better chance of playing well, and improving on the court.  

All the fundamentals we practiced over and over were meant to prepare us to perform well under pressure and rely on muscle memory when it came to shooting, passing, and moving the ball.  

Practice mattered.  Our habits mattered.  

Over the years, I've come to understand that the same is true when it comes to our spiritual lives.  

Author James K.A. Smith once wrote: 

“We are what we love. And our loves are shaped and directed by the habits we practice. Our daily routines are not spiritually neutral; they are quietly training our hearts toward something.” 

We usually think discipleship begins with what we believe.

Jesus certainly cared about belief. But he also cared deeply about what his followers practiced.

Pray this way.

Forgive again. And again. And again.  (Seventy times seven to be exact)

Feed the hungry.

Welcome the stranger.

Love your enemies.

Serve one another.

Jesus wasn't simply giving his disciples a list of religious obligations. He was forming them into a particular kind of people.

Practice changes us.

Paul tells Timothy, “Train yourself in godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7). The language is striking. We rarely expect to become physically strong without exercise or musically skilled without practice. Yet sometimes we expect ourselves to become patient, compassionate, forgiving, and prayerful simply because we believe those things are important.

Spiritual maturity requires practice too.

Every time you choose patience instead of irritation, you practice becoming patient.

Every time you offer forgiveness instead of resentment, you practice becoming forgiving.

Every time you stop and give thanks, you practice becoming grateful.

Every time you pray for someone who frustrates you, you practice becoming more like Christ.

None of these individual choices will suddenly transform us. But repeated over months and years, something remarkable happens.

What once required tremendous effort slowly becomes part of who we are.

Paul describes this transformation by encouraging believers to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12). We put these virtues on again and again until eventually they begin to fit.

So don't become discouraged when love still requires effort or patience doesn't come naturally.

Keep practicing.

God's Spirit is working through those ordinary repetitions.

What we faithfully practice today quietly shapes who we become tomorrow.

May it be so for all of us, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever. Amen.  

Prayer

God of transformation, shape my heart through the practices of everyday life. Teach me to practice patience, generosity, forgiveness, gratitude, and love until they become increasingly natural expressions of who I am. Give me grace when I fail and courage to begin again. Through your Spirit, form the life of Christ within me. Amen.

Reflection Questions

1. What qualities of Christ would you most like to cultivate in your life?
2. What daily practice could help form one of those qualities within you?
3. What habits might currently be training your heart in a direction you don't want to go?