Little Foxes

Here it is April 6....Boy does it ever fly lately....time....you know!!!! This morning as I was in one of my favorite books of the Bible, Peter....I decided to pick up my English Standard Version of the Bible and just read Peter from there. 1 and 2nd Peter are wonderful instructions for us as believers and I've never tired of reading it . While reading 2nd Peter Chapter 1, I saw something new and pretty liberating for me. In my KJV the 10th verse of the 1st Chapter says, ...."give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if ye DO these things, ye shall never fall." Seems like I've always been saying to the Lord in one way or another.Lord I really do want to DO what You desire for me to DO. It seems like I'm always falling short in one way or another. Never feeling like I'm DOING what I should be DOING! Well when I read that verse this am from my ESV that same verse reads" Therefore brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you PRACTICE these qualities you will never fall. " Now that may not seem like a big deal at first, but when you think about it, there's a big difference between DOING and PRACTICING! I need to go to the 3rd verse in the 1st Chapter for a minute and quote" His divine power has GRANTED to us all the things that pertain to life an godliness,THROUGH the KNOWLEDGE of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence."There again,....there's a big difference between GRANTED AND GIVEN ! GRANTED suggests an opportunity, permission to use,allow etc. But we still have to USE IT,BELIEVE IT, TRUST IT. How many millions, possibly trillions of dollars are spent on pursuits in our lives that we want to master??? We will spend countless hours PRACTICING something that we want to get really good at.....more than hours .....Years......a Lifetime!!!! Practicing , practicing, practicing aiming at that HOLE IN ONE in golf, that concert at Carnegie Hall on the piano, that Master Painting that might hang in a prestigious gallery someday....on an on....whatever it is that we really want to succeed at....we PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. When I was about 7 years old, my grandmother started trying to teach me to play the piano......day after day it was ..." Patricia....you must PRACTICE your scales."...well I didn't enjoy practicing the scales,.....I wanted to play a song or two.....and guess what.....I NEVER LEARNED TO PLAY THE PIANO!!!
Just thinking about this really encouraged me in a way and took a load off my shoulders. I think I'll do better at PRACTICING the instructions in the Word, (because there is in the PRACTICING to do something and realizing imperfections)than the feeling of utter failureabout having not DONE it successfully.. There's something about the word DONE and DO that seems to me to expect ACCURACY AND COMPLETION. Yep, I am feeling much better about PRACTICING!!! There's an old saying PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!!! Kind of makes me look at Ephesians 4:13 with a lot more hope and positive expectation......" Till we all come in the unity of the faith , and of theknowledge of the Son of God, unto a PERFECT man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."