I once enrolled with a coach to learn how to play lawn tennis. It was a very interesting time for me. He taught me the rudiments of the game. Within a short period of time, I started knocking the ball around in a very nice way, and started to feel cool about it. I soon realised that the more I played with my coach, my inadequacies became obvious. It appeared my game was very bad despite the progress I thought I was making. I knew I was improving though, but it was almost discouraging to see that he kept pointing at my errors and showing me adjustments I needed to make. Interestingly, one day he told me I was going to play a “social game” with some other more experienced players than myself. So I accepted the offer and went to play with them. I was very shocked at my own performance. I could now appreciate my progress and was happy with myself. I felt like a new star on the pitch that day, knocking the ball around and making all the nice moves. I may not have been as good as my coach, but it did not matter this time—I was having a good time with my new level of play.
This is similar to our walk with God. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” We are GRADUALLY becoming what we FOCUS ON. As we focus on the Master—Word of God (by studying, meditating and acting it out on a daily basis), we are gradually becoming like Him. Hallelujah! But often times, we get frustrated because of the errors and the imperfections we see in our lives when we behold His glory (His performance and abilities)—the perfect example that we are reaching for. This epitomic glory is so fantastic that when compared with our current state, it appears as though we are so bad and are never going to be able to make any progress, and that has hampered many people from stepping out to do the work and will of the master.
But Christ, who is your life coach, wants you to play some ‘social games’ every day. Do not sit down and say in your mind, “If only I had finished reading the whole Bible…If only I did not misbehave with that little temptation yesterday…If only I have the gift of seeing visions…If only I was a pastor….” etc. Beloved, I beseech you to go to the field of life and display excellence and righteousness daily. Just lay your hand on the sick around you and give the command…in the name of Jesus. Raise the dead. Make it a duty to preach the gospel. Go and do something with that “little” you have learned from the Master and don’t bother about your “if only’s…” . You will be amazed at how much you have already tapped from your life coach and just waiting for you to step out in faith. You will appreciate your Christianity better. But go back to him again and train with Christ some more. You may still feel inadequate, sometimes, but just like 1 Timothy 4:15-16 says: “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
