Practice, Practice, Practice



At first glance it seem a bit silly, but as I watched the firefighters in full uniform running to the trailer, grabbing the ladder and racing with it to place it against the firehouse it became clear that they were practicing maneuvers. I imagine that in a large metropolitan area they get plenty of opportunities every day to carry out missions by the number of calls they receive, but in our small community they have to simulate the situations, so they will be fully prepared when the calls come in for something out of the ordinary.

In life we must practice before we get into certain situations too. It is important that we think through and plan out how we are going to act and react when trouble comes our way. 

Troubles can come in many forms and fashions, but today I want to focus on the temptations we face. This was brought home recently when a young girl was in a situation that made her uncomfortable. She is not married and has made a commitment not to have sex before marriage. Good for her—I believe that this is the best plan that God has for young couples, however it is so easy to get caught up in the world’s way of thinking. 

What does the world say about sex before marriage? If it feels good do it. Everyone wants to feel loved. There’s nothing wrong with it. Just try it and see if you like it. Everyone does it. And many more…

My young friend has had the discussion with the man she is seeing and they had both agreed that they would like to wait until marriage to have sex. So the woman was quite confused when her friend said out of the blue, “It really doesn’t matter if you have sex before marriage. It’s between the two of you if you want to do it.”

I’m so proud of her response which was, “I will NOT have sex until I get married to the right person! So if that is what you want then our relationship will not work.”

The reason my friend can say that is because she has thought it through and has practiced in her mind what she would do in that situation. 

It’s important to look back and to look ahead and make plans and practice for our future words and actions. Maybe it's something we need to do more often.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
www.hearthope.org

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