Practice - 1 John 3:4-10

1 John 3:4-10 ESV 

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

We are in the process of becoming someone and something. This life is a practice round for the life to come. We usually get better at the things we practice. The trouble is not all things make us better. 

We cannot change how, when, or where we are born in the flesh. But we do have a say in who will be our spiritual father. We do have a say in our spiritual birth and condition. We do have a say as to our life and death. 

This will manifest not in what we say alone, but what we do. What we practice. This practice implies a process of becoming, of building toward a particular end. It is a journey through our time on earth, a linear and horizontal process. It is also a journey of another kind, a vertical process of up or down, one which encompasses our spiritual progress. 

Practice can make perfect, but it can also be our undoing. Either way we are given the desires of our heart. Consider carefully that which you choose. 

We choose in whose house we will dwell. I think we will all prefer our Heavenly Father's abode. The other option is down, way down.