Practice Makes Perfect

I recently received a book that I had ordered online entitled “Grieving: How to Go on Living When Someone You Love Dies” by Therese A. Rando, PH.D. and eagerly began to read over the weekend.  What immediately caught my attention was the fact that many of the things that I have been feeling and/or going through are not that unusual when a loved one passes on.  That understanding gave me a sense of wholeness and helped to calm the wind-swept waters that I have been treading over the last 5 weeks since my wife’s move to heaven.

In reading the first few chapters of the book, I realized that I not only lost the most important person in my life, but I also lost the part of me that has identified with her for the last 48 years, along with all of the visions, plans, dreams and hopes for our future together.  Then it hit me that I not only have to build a new life for myself, but also a new identity!  I used to joke with Piper all the time that the thought of “Jim and Piper” went together like the combination of “Peanut Butter and Jelly!”  It is something that someone would always put together in their minds!  Most people who know us would hardly think of one without the other.  But now… it’s just “Jim…”

So, with that in mind I grabbed my “Piper’s Story” journal and began first, to make a list of all the things in my life that most likely were NOT going to change.  At the top of that list, besides our children and their families, was my personal hunger and dependence on God and His Word which brought a familiar scripture to mind where the writer of the book of Hebrews confidently declares that: “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  (Hebrews 11:6 KJV) 

This keynote verse located within the chapter of the New Testament that is affectionately called “The Roll Call of Faith,” was always a standard description of Piper’s and my faith and I do not foresee any reason for that to change now!  It is one of those “Practice Makes Perfect” foundations in my life that I will continue to develop.

I recently read an article defining the meaning of the word “Believe,” especially in the light of Hebrews chapter eleven.  The author Tom Stuart, Pastor and leader of Ignited2Pray Ministries in in Blaine, MN, states:

“Did you know that in twenty of the world’s most primitive languages the word for believe is the same as the word for do?  That is something Wycliffe Bible translators have discovered in years of working to translate the Bible into the native language of remote people groups.  In other words, for those cultures, to believe something literally means to do something.  Faith and action are inseparable. Truth be told, that is the way God intends it.

Genuine faith is expressed through action.  This is a discovery that one readily makes when studying Hebrews 11 the great faith chapter of the Bible.  A careful reading of the account of Abraham, the father of our faith, in verses 8 through 19 underscores this truth like none other.”     (http://tomstuart.org/2010/10/20/believe-is-an-action-verb/)

So, like I said previously, even though there is a lot of “NEW” things for me out there in the world, there are some foundations that will stay the same.  I will continue to practice my faith… which the article above describes as my “active” believing of God and his Word, so that when the different, the difficult, the damaging and the unsettling things of life threaten me, I will automatically go into action… putting to work the things that I have continued to practice in my daily life!

What do you think about that idea?  Are there things/ways/procedures/foundations in your life that you practice on a regular basis in order to prepare you for the unseen things ahead… or in other words… things that you “actively” believe?  Maybe today is good time to start taking stock, prepare and then practice what is important to you!

Have a great new week ahead, and as you do, say with me: “I expect to practice my faith in order to be ready for whatever is in my future!”