Practice for Reality

By W. Fred Crow, Pastor (Eureka, San Jose)

While driving to a business meeting I came upon a stop sign. I slowed to a complete stop, looked both ways, then proceeded through the intersection. Nothing unusual about that, you say. My driving companion turned and looked at me and asked, “Why did you stop? We're the only ones on the road?!”

He was correct. We were the only car in the area. And we could see, not for miles, but clearly between and around the company office buildings. You see, we were on company property and I was following the road, as laid out on flat concrete. There were no trees or homes to obscure my vision. There were no commercial businesses drawing traffic attention. I was driving on parking lot pavement with painted outlines of a road. So why was I stopping?

I told my coworker that I was reinforcing my driving subconscious, that whenever I saw a stop sign I would automatically stop, look, and then proceed. I wanted to be safe. I said if I practiced driving through a stop sign on company property, I might do so off campus and be the cause of an accident. I was exercising what is known as “muscle memory.”

Hebrews 5:14 tells us that our senses should be “...exercised to discern both good and evil.” The word 'exercise’ comes from the Greek word meaning to 'practice,' or 'train.' We train our minds to act and react to situations and environments so that a correct response would be immediate when we're challenged or under duress. We don't have to think about what we should do. We trained for, practiced, and know what to do. That's what I was doing that with my mind – I was practicing proper driving even when I knew there was no danger, so that, when on public streets I would instinctively follow the rules of the road.

This is so much more true when it comes to our spirituality. We must practice and train our minds so that, when given a trial or test, or come upon a temptation we will have an immediate and appropriate response that protects us. No fumbling with, “Um, what should I do now?” We've trained our minds – that spiritual muscle – to discern good and evil, and to act and react appropriately.

One way to exercise our minds is to recognize cause and effect, action and consequence. And for each negative outcome, identify the cause. And for each cause, exercise and sensitize the mind to avoid the same error in judgment. It might be by observation, seeing the effect of someone else's choice. It may be by observing the results of our own choices and sensitizing our minds to avoid our own errors in judgment. We need to exercise our spiritual senses so that we can avoid living with negative results.

As we read through the bible, noting the examples of those that have gone before us, as we see the good and bad results from good and bad decisions from around us, let's all exercise and sensitize our spiritual senses. Let's practice for reality.