Practice

If you ask Kirby Smart, how his Bulldogs were able to win the College Football National Championship this year, you might hear him say something about preparation and practice. After UGA beat Florida last year, Coach Smart said this in a post-game interview:

“I have fun watching these guys practice. These guys go about their meetings and practice days so serious, taking notes, getting nuggets. Their coaches do a great job, but these kids right here, they’re special.”

Coach Smart and his Bulldogs won the National Championship on January 10, 2022 but they secured the victory in advance with excellent practice and preparation, which brings us to our scripture for today. We have two verses, both focused on the practice of seeking the Lord.

The first is from 2 Chronicles 15:2 which says:

The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

And the second verse is from Psalms 34:10:

Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Seeking the Lord is the act of practicing our spiritual disciplines. Just as practice was critical for the Bulldogs, as we seek the Lord, it is critical that we consistently practice spiritual disciplines.

The C.S. Lewis Institute describes spiritual disciplines as “those Bible-prescribed activities that are explicitly said to increase our sanctification, our conformity to Christ Jesus, our spiritual maturation.” These may include prayer, study, fellowship, worship, service, giving, sabbath, fasting or anything else that helps us avoid/reduce sin and become more like Jesus.

So, if these activities are the “practice”, then what is our spiritual “game”? I would suggest that the “game” relates to using our sanctification and spiritual maturity (that we gain through practice) in God-glorifying ways, including:  

• Do we treat others with love?
• Do we want the best for others and show it through generosity?
• Do we act ethically in business?
• During challenging times, do we respond in fear or in faith?
• Do we have self-control and avoid overindulging?
• How do we respond in traffic when someone cuts us off?
• How do we respond when someone is disrespectful toward us?

If we wait to build our game plan until after the game starts, we are unlikely to win. But by practicing our spiritual disciplines, we’ll win more victories (for God) while playing the game of life on earth.

Questions:

1. Do you agree with the analogy comparing football practice to the practice of spiritual disciplines? Why or why not?
2. If you have an example, please tell the group about a team you were on that won a big victory (athletic, academic, professional, other) and how practice/preparation made that victory possible.
3. Do you have an example of how practicing spiritual disciplines helped you succeed in a situation that might have been a failure otherwise?
4. What are one or two spiritual disciplines you would like to practice more consistently in 2022?