By Shannon Caughey

If the team you are coaching is going to improve, what do they need to do? Practice. For individual athletes to be better from one game or match to the next, what must they continue to do? Practice. You’ve probably said to those you coach (maybe multiple times!), “There are no shortcuts.” To make competitive progress, athletes have to practice.

More specifically, athletes have to practice the right things. It has been pointed out that the old saying “practice makes perfect” is not fully accurate. Athletes can participate in practice every day, but if what happens during practice doesn’t address the specific skills and conditioning they actually need, they will make very little progress. That’s why good coaches give significant thought to what they want their athletes to practice. The purpose is not merely to do something but rather to practice those things that will enable those they coach to perform better and better in competition. Effective practices bring progress.

This holds true for us spiritually as well. How do we improve in saying, doing, and even thinking the right things more consistently? For example, if we struggle with losing our temper in certain situations, how can we grow in responding instead with patience and grace? If we are quick to judge and be critical of others, how can we instead move toward seeing them with genuine love? If sports or winning is an idol for us, how do we instead increasingly give our undivided devotion to the Lord and have a God-honoring perspective on sports and competitive success?

In Philippians 2:12-13, the Apostle Paul writes, “Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” When we experience salvation—rescue from what we deserve for our sin and restoration to God through faith in Jesus—we now have a new calling to live according to our new identity as those saved by Christ. We are to work hard at obeying God not because this saves us but because it “shows the results of our salvation”—that is, it demonstrates we are new people because of what Jesus has done in saving us. Ultimately, the intended “results of our salvation” is that “Christ is formed in [us]” (Galatians 4:19)—we become more and more like Jesus. Author Dallas Willard described spiritual growth in this way: as Christ is formed in us, we would increasingly think, speak, and act as Jesus would if he were in our unique situation—including in our role as a coach.

Is “getting better” at obeying God and living like Jesus all on our shoulders? Far from it! In the Philippians 2 passage, Paul reminds us that God is working in us. God gives us “the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” The Lord is the initiator of our spiritual growth. Our responsibility is to respond to his work and actively participate in what he is doing.

Here, then, is how we improve in saying, doing, and thinking the right things: Trust God and his work in us, and work hard to partner with the Lord in his transformational work. To “work hard” involves intentional, directed efforts. It includes engaging in particular practices—also referred to as spiritual disciplines—that help us grow spiritually so that we live for Jesus more consistently. Here are some foundational spiritual practices according to what we see in the Bible: studying God’s Word, prayer, worship, confession, and solitude. 

Doing these things doesn’t make us more spiritually mature in and of themselves. To be “spiritually mature” according to God’s definition is to be like Jesus: his love, his character, his perspective, his closeness to the Father, his actions, etc. These spiritual practices are also not ways to try to earn God’s favor. We are already unfailingly loved by him as his adopted children through our faith in Christ. Instead, the purpose of these spiritual practices is to intentionally arrange our life around activities that give God the opportunity to work in us and enable us to increasingly live as Jesus would were he in our shoes. 

There are no shortcuts to “getting better” at living according to God’s good design. Progress requires practice. Trust the Lord’s power and grace, and work hard at engaging in the right things. In upcoming devotions, we’ll look more closely at each of the foundational practices mentioned above. 

For reflection: Read Philippians 2:12-13 a couple more times, paying attention to what God is stirring in you. In what ways is God encouraging you and in what ways is he challenging you through the truth of these verses?