Written By: Noah Rhen| CS Carlsbad
Photo By: Solveig Jobbins

The old saying goes, “practice makes perfect.” But is that entirely true? 

If you were to ask a great surfer how they became good at it, they would probably tell you that they have spent countless hours learning and practicing every aspect of surfing. They would also tell you that they can always be better in one area or another. 

The more you surf, the more comfortable you become. The positioning of your body weight starts to be more familiar. The power of the wave and the timing of when to make a move. No matter how much you practice, though, you do not always do it perfectly; you might fall or get wrecked. It happens to the most experienced surfers. 

So does practice make perfect, or does practice make progress? 

The same is true for our walk with the Lord. 

Jeremiah 29:13, The Lord says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

As we spend time reading His Word or in prayer with Him or learning from mentors, when we look for the Lord, we will find Him. The more we do that, the more we learn His voice, the better we can see the ways that He moves. 

But it comes with practice. Surfers don’t become pros overnight. We, as Christians, need to continually and consistently practice the spiritual disciplines that it takes to deepen our relationship with Jesus. 

Paul reminds the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 9:24, “That in a race all the runners run, but only one gets a prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” 

He is telling the church and us to deepen and improve our relationship with God in a way that makes it better than ever. 

Continue to practice and be disciplined, to be more like Jesus, who was perfect. We should strive to follow His example. Practice it and make progress.