country poetry & more

Practice Makes Perfect

Every now and then I get the yen to become a gourmet cook. I get out The Joy of Cooking, study menus and recipes, admire the elegantly decorated cakes, drool over the endless possibilities. And then I open a can of soup for supper.

Is it possible that we sometimes practice Christianity the way I cook? Do we spend more time with the Book than actually combining ingredients to make a better self? Do we memorize scripture, “chapter and verse,” in order to tell others about our faith and then fail to tell them with our lives?

Think of the people who have meant the most to you. Was their religion more obvious in word or in deed? I have learned more about the realities of Christianity from the life of a righteous alcoholic than from all the preachers I have ever heard. And if you think “righteous alcoholic” is a contradiction in terms, you have truly missed a blessing.

We have not been admonished to go out and stir up controversy in order to show off our Bible knowledge. If the way we live is not of such quality as to evoke curiosity about our faith, what good does it do to have a ready answer?

If reading a book about cooking or basketball or music is of little value without regular practice, how much more vigilant we should be to subject Christianity to daily workouts, to be like Christ, not just talk about him. We can hardly hope to convert our neighbors simply by using scripture to prove a point in an argument.

Cora Gail Trent
www.cgtrent.com
cgtrent@att.net

# posted by cgtrent @ 5:51 AM