Practice Makes Perfect

1 John 4:17-19

Growing up with two older brothers, I consistently had two coaches, mentoring me in sports - mostly basketball. While I learned much from both of them, the key thing I remember is Jonathan telling me the importance of perfecting my shot.

Jonathan would lie in bed at night, flicking his right wrist in a shooting motion — the exact same way every time — sometimes with a basketball and sometimes without. He was perfecting his shot, even while falling asleep. He urged me to to do the same. I never did.

The small Christian school Jonathan and I played for didn't keep much for records, but I have no doubt in my mind that Jonathan had the best shooting percentage in school history. Sure, he missed plenty of times, but that wasn't the point. Michael Jordan missed over 9,000 shots in his career, but I would still argue that he had perfected the game of basketball.

By his senior year of high school, Jonathan had perfected his shot, while my shot was still as flat and ugly as Iowa (no offense).

Perfecting Love

Any time the Bible calls us to some sort of perfection, it's easy to do one of two things: 1. dismiss it for meaning a goal for which we must shoot but will certainly never attain or 2. meaning absolute perfection, which drives us to depression.

1 John 4:17 says this: "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world."

Love has been perfected among us. There's that word. Perfect. Perfect love. Who could possibly have perfect love?

Think of the word "perfect" less from a results standpoint, and more from a action standpoint. The result of Jonathan's shooting was not perfect, but his shot was perfect.

Perfecting the way you love is very possible for two main reasons.

1. Love has very little to do with emotions.

Think back to basketball. Jonathan did not make shots because he was "really feeling it" or "really wanted to win." He made shots because he practiced. If anything, emotions are one of the things that most often get in the way of playing your best basketball.

When we love based solely on emotions, we do no love long and we do not love well. People and circumstances will constantly get in our way, giving us excuses to not love.

2. Love comes from God

Love does not come from emotions. It comes from and is sustained by God alone. As we've talked about several times before, when we abide in Him, we will reap the benefits of his character — love being chief among these. We cannot attain perfected love on our own, but with Almighty God abiding in us, it is far from impossible.

Jonathan showed me how to shoot the perfect shot, my knees bending slightly, then straightening in a smooth motion as my feet left the ground, my elbows at a 90-degree angle, swooping in front of my face, my hands holding the ball just above my head — left hand on the side, right hand in front of me. As I reach the zenith of my ascent, my elbows straighten — left elbow to 45 degrees, right elbow completely, my right wrist flicking the ball toward the empty net which my eyes are locked on. The last part of me to touch the ball is my middle finger, rubbing gently against the rubber, sending the ball  in a perfectly straight backwards spin, arcing in such a way that were it to keep arcing it might form a perfect circle.

That is the perfect basketball shot.

I know this, but my shot is still far from perfect? Why?

Note this, the presence of knowledge, by no means, implies that the knower cares anything for the entity of the knowledge. I cared more about my free time and my bed time than I cared about practicing my shot. I cared more about playing H.O.R.S.E with Jonathan than I cared about learning from him.

We treat our Christian walk the same way. We love certain times with Jesus. We love singing inspirational songs in the same way that I love watching inspirational basketball movies. We love going on missions trips in the same way that I love playing a pickup game with the guys. But we do not excel in practicing. We do not excel in the process of perfecting. We have the knowledge. We are in the program. But we are not willing to practice.

Awaiting the Judgment

Why do we seek to perfect our love? First and foremost, it's commanded. But let's take a closer look at what John says in 4:17.

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world."

How can you tell if someone spent the summer practicing their basketball skills?

Play a game. You will be able to tell if they stayed in shape or if they worked on their shot.

There is coming a judgment when our practicing or lack of will be revealed. Imagine standing before the One who spilled His blood to give you a second chance in life. If He came now, and didn't care about how many hours you spent in church activities, didn't care how emotionally you sang songs, didn't care how many Bible verses you memorized and didn't care if you had a degree in Theology — all He cared about was how well you practiced loving (with your words and actions) the people on earth that you were not inclined to love. When your summer on earth is done, and the Almighty wants to know how well you practiced for eternity…what will you say? Will you be ashamed?

When we show love to the unlovable, like Christ showed His love for us, then we know we have experienced His love in us. And when we know we have experienced His love in us, then we know that we need not fear the day of judgment. We need have no fear, because Oh, the depths of His unfathomable love!

But. If we do not show love to our co-workers, to our in-laws and to the picketers and the lesbian couple, and to the Muslim man and the beggar on the street and the IRS man at the door and President Obama and our neighbor and that person who just popped into your head…THEN…then you have reason to fear the day of judgment, because it is very possible that the love of God has never entered your heart.

Examine yourself.