THE ACCOUNT WITH PRACTICE - Oswald Chambers

Practice means continually doing that which no one sees or knows but myself. Habit is the result of practice, by continually doing the thing it becomes second nature. The difference between men is not a difference of personal power, but that some men are disciplined, and others are not. The difference is not the degree of mental power, but the degree of mental discipline. If I have taught myself how to think, I have mental power plus the discipline of having got it under way. Beware of impulse. Impulsiveness is the characteristic of a child, but it ought not to be the characteristic of a man, it means he has not disciplined himself. Undeterred impulse is undisciplined power. 

Every habit is purely mechanical, and whenever we form a habit, it makes a material difference in the brain. The material of the brain alters very slowly, but it does alter, and by repeatedly doing a thing a groove is formed in the material of the brain and it becomes easier to do it again, until at least you become unconscious of doing it. When we are regenerated, by the power and the presence of God we can reform every habit that is not in accordance with His life. Never form a habit gradually, do it at once, do it sharply and definitely, and never allow a break. We have to learn to form habits according to the dictates of the Spirit of God. The power and the practice must go together. When we fail it is because we have not practiced, not brought the mechanical part of our nature into line. If I keep at it practicing, what I practice becomes my second nature, then in a crisis I find that not only does God s grace stand by me, but also my own nature. The practicing is mine not God s and the crisis reveals whether or not I have been practicing. The reason we fail is not the devil, but inattention on our part arising from the fact that we have not disciplined ourselves.

Marriage and money form the elemental constitution of personal life and social life. They are the touchstone of reality, and around these two things the Holy Spirit works all the time. Marriage is one of the mountain peaks on which God s thunder blasts souls to hell or on which His light transfigures human lives in the eternal heavens. Jesus Christ faces fearlessly the question of sin and wrong, and He teaches us to face it fearlessly. There is no circumstance so dark and complicated, no life so twisted, that He cannot put right. The Bible was not written for babes and fools, it was written for men and women who have to face hell s facts as well as heaven’s facts in this life. If Jesus Christ cannot touch those lives which present a smooth face but have a hideous tragedy behind, what is the good of His salvation? But bless God, He can. He can alter my disposition, alter the dreams of my dreams, until lust no longer dwells there.

Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. Remember, says Jesus, that you have to stand before the tribunal of God, not of men; practice the right kind of speech, and your Father in heaven will back up all that is true. If you have to back it up yourself, it is of the evil one. You have no right to call in anyone to back it up, your word ought to be quite sufficient, whether men believe you or not is a matter of indifference. Refrain your speech until it conveys the sincerity of your mind. Until the Son of God is formed in me, I am not sincere, I am not even honest, but when His life comes into me, He makes me honest with myself and generous and kind towards others. We all know men whose word is their bond, there is no need for anyone to back up the word, the character and the life are sufficient.

There is a snare in being able to talk easily about God’s truth because frequently that is where it ends, if you can get a good expression for truth the danger is you will know no more. Most of us can talk piously, we have the practice but not the power. Jesus is saying let your conversation spring from such a basis of the Holy Spirit that everyone who listens is built up by it. Unaffected sincerity always builds up; corrupt communication makes you feel mean and narrow. There are men who never say a bad word, yet their influence is devilish. Don’t pay attention to the outside of the platter, pay attention to the inside and practice the speech that is in accordance with the life of the Son of God in you, and slowly and surely your speech and your sincerity will be in accord. In Our Lord’s Day the habit was common, as it is today, of backing up ordinary assertions with an appeal to the name of God. Jesus checks that, He says never call on anything in the nature of God to attest what you say, speak simply and truly, realizing that truth in a man is the same as truth in God. To call in God as a witness to back up what you say is nearly always a sign that what you are saying is not true. If you can find eight or more reasons for the truth of what you say, it is proof that what you say is not strictly true, if it were, you would never have to find the reasons to prove it. Jesus Christ puts in a truthfulness that never takes knowledge of itself.

Irreverent reverence is what Our Lord checks, talking flippantly about those things which ought only to be mentioned with the greatest reverence. I remember an Indian woman who got wonderfully saved, she was an ugly woman but at the pronouncement of the name of Jesus Christ, her face was transfigured, the whole soul of the woman was in reverent adoration of her Lord and Master.

Integrity means the unimpaired purity of the heart. God can make our words the exact expression of the dis position He has put in. Jesus taught by example and precept that no man should stand up for his own honor but only for the honor of another. Our Lord was never careful of His own honor ” He made Himself of no reputation; ” men called Him a glutton and a wine- bibber, a madman, devil possessed, and He never opened His mouth; but immediately they said a word against His Father s honor, He not only opened His mouth, but He said some terrible things. (See Mark XL 15-18.) Jesus Christ by His Spirit alters our standard of honor, and a disciple will never care about what people say of him, but he will care tremendously what people say of Jesus. He realizes that his Lord’s honor is at stake in his life, not his own honor. What is the thing that rouses you? That is an indication of where you live.

Scandal should be treated as you treat mud on your clothes. If you try and deal with it while it is wet, you rub the mud into the texture, but leave it till it is dry and you flick it off with a touch, it is gone without a trace. Leave scandal alone, never touch it.

Let people do what they like with your truth, but never explain it. Jesus never explained anything, we are always explaining, and we get into tangles by not leaving things alone. We need to pray St. Augustine s prayer ” O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself. Our Lord never told His disciples when they made mistakes, they made any number of blunders, but He went on quietly planting the truth, and He let mistakes correct themselves.

In the matter of praise, when I am not sure of having done well, I always like to find out what people think; when I am certain I have done well, I don t care an atom whether folks praise me or not. The same thing with regard to fear, we all know men who say they are not afraid, but the very fact they say it, proves they are. We have to learn to live on the line of integrity all through.

Another truth we do not sufficiently realize is the in fluence of what we think over what we say. A man may say wonderfully truthful things, but what he thinks is what tells. It is possible to say truthful things in a truthful manner and to tell a lie by thinking. I can repeat to someone else what I heard you say, word for word, every detail scientifically accurate, and yet convey a lie in saying it because the temper of my mind is different to the temper of your mind when you said it. A lie is not an inexactitude of speech, a lie is in the motive. I may be actually truthful and an incarnate liar. It is not the literal words that count but their influence on others.

Suspicion is always of the devil and is the cause of people saying more than they need to say, and in that aspect it ” cometh of evil.” If you submit children to a skeptical atmosphere and call-in question all they say, it will instill the habit of backing up what is said Well, ask him if you don t believe me. Such a thought would never occur to a child naturally, it only occurs when the child has to talk to suspicious people who continually say Now, I don’t know whether what you are saying is true. The child gets the idea that it does not speak the truth unless someone backs it up. It never occurs to a pure honest heart to back up what it says, it is a wounding insult to be met with suspicion, and that is why from the first we ought never to submit a child to suspicion.