If you have ever had to take lessons, whether it was the piano or maybe golf, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “practice makes perfect.” The meaning is, of course, that if you will practice faithfully, eventually you will be able to do something perfectly. But is that really true?
May I submit to you that practice does NOT make perfect, but practice CAN make permanent! A child may practice the piano for hours and hours every day. But if he is practicing it incorrectly, all of his practicing will not make his playing ability perfect, but it will eventually make it permanent.
In 2 Peter, he is writing to warn the believers of false prophets among them who were bringing in “damnable heresies” (2 Pet. 2:1). What’s interesting is that he describes these false prophets in verse 14 as “Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin” and he goes on in that verse to say they did this “with covetous practices…” There were practices going on. They were practicing heresy, covetousness, and all manner of sinfulness but those practices were not making them perfect; far from it!
One reason that Christ-honoring habits are not being developed in the lives of people is because they have not made them a practice. Let us determine that we will “practice” righteousness. The more we practice right living, the more permanent it will become in our lives.
What you practice will likely make permanent, so be careful what you practice.