[Gary Petty] The book of Proverbs says, "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). Now, training involves two things: one is the receiving of instruction, and the second is the practice of that instruction. Remember the first time you drove a car, or tried to throw a basketball through a hoop, and how awkward it felt? And yet, other people seem to do it so easily. And then you received instruction, and what did you do? Well, you practiced. And you practiced some more, until you learned how to drive a car.

You ever watch a child learn the simplest of things – maybe how to tie his or her shoes – and you'll see them just struggle over and over again, dozens of times, just to learn how to tie the shoe? It's almost like the fingers can't figure out what the brain is telling them. Well, athletes call this "muscle memory". And what they do is they repeat something over and over and over again, until it becomes second nature. And that's why so many of these great athletes do things that just seem impossible – they've actually trained their brain and their body to work together in ways that would be impossible for the rest of us.

You know, no matter what you do in life, it takes those two elements – you have to receive instructions, and you have to practice. And that goes towards learning how to learn skills of a job, and it applies to Christianity, too. You know, you learn how to not tell lies by telling the truth over and over and over again.

The famous coach Vince Lombardi once said that practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. And that can be applied to every aspect of life, even our Christianity. So remember, whatever you set your mind to do, whatever you want to accomplish, or just obeying the simple instructions of God, remember it all comes down to instruction and practice, practice, practice.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.