There is a joke that has been around a long while that I'm sure everyone has heard in various forms from a variety of people. The joke assumes that the person listening to the joke is aware of the place named Carnegie Hall. Carnegie represents the pinnacle of performance venues for performers from a wide variety of musical fields. It was Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1891. It is one of the most prestigious venues in the world for both classical music and popular music.
The famous joke about this iconic place is pretty simple. "An old joke has become part of the folklore of the hall. One of the earliest print versions of the joke runs as follows: "Rumor is that a pedestrian on Fifty-seventh Street, Manhattan, stopped Jascha Heifetz and inquired, "Could you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?" "Yes," said Heifetz. "Practice!"
The humor may not have you rolling in your seat but the degree of truth in that simple joke should give pause to our assumptions regarding our Christian calling and journey. The thing that propels a young violinist is not a secret corner cutting strategy but simple practice.
One of the things that I have had to do over the course of managing technical teams and people is to help reign them in from coming up with an elaborate solution to an otherwise simple problem. The most elegant solutions that I have encountered are the simplest in form and execution. The elegance of practice is that it is so simple. I recall taking guitar lessons for a period of time and the instructor showing me an exercise call a Hammer On and a Pull Off. It is basically two very simple actions.
The hammer is a quick pressing down on a string and letting go or holding it down to resonate. The pull off is just the opposite; you pull your finger off the string, dragging it just a little to get the string to again resonate. Practicing these two actions can quite literally push a person to the edge. But that is how you learn. While I was practicing my scales on the guitar the instructor would tell me to go slow and to make sure that I had my hand form correct and that the notes were clear. I was NOT to worry about speed of the playing (I wanted to be a frettboard burner). His words to me were, "If you can't play it slowly you will never be able to play it fast." Simple and true.
Our Christian pursuits can be paralleled quite a bit I think. The story might look like this. Jesus is walking down a dusty road and a man/woman walks up to Him and asks, "Master, how do I get to to be more like you?" Its a stretch I know but think about it for a few more lines.
Have you had the honor of having a young person learn an instrument in your home? The endless hours of screeching and squawking and starting over. We are so bombarded by the imperfect sounds coming from the unlearned player that we begin to wonder, "is playing an instrument in school or church really that important?" Of course it is!! The learner will take away from this experience more than just knowledge of the notes and rhythms associated with playing. They will learn that not getting it right is EXPECTED. That's right. It is expected for the learner to fail in their pursuit of perfection. That is a powerful place that they must traverse. They must know in their heart and mind what the sounds should be and at the same time know what they are capable of doing. What enemy is stalking their path all this time?
Discouragement. Frustration. Impatience. Self Criticism. Tiredness and perhaps Hopelessness.
Do these wanted posters look familiar? What is the most important thing that the learner can do at this early and difficult stage? Keep Going! The elegance of the simple answer belies the challenges that will accompany it. There will be internal and external voices telling the learner to give up or give in. They will have to see others who have advanced beyond their ability and the prowling beast of defeat will try to drag them down,"you will never be that good" "You don't have what it takes to get this right" or more seductively, "this isn't for everyone you know" "trying another instrument might be a better choice for you" "Just taking a little time off to rest and collect yourself will do wonders for you".
These things are lies of course. What the enemy doesn't want us to remember is that everyone had a beginning and beginnings are hard. Maturity takes time, experience, and learning. If a student is lucky they will have an teacher who can hear through the din that is NOW the sweet melody and passion that is THEN. Words of encouragement for the moment. Words of challenge for the goals. Painting for the students mind the grand picture of the possible because he has faith in this prodigy. The hall is full now and everyone has come to hear you play this instrument. They dont know the steps that it took to get to this place. The instructor does, others that encouraged you in your pursuit do. Other players know the price of competence and the price of excellence. You know.
So what then Christian soldier? I know if you are reading this you are most likely not a green recruit, at least in time. But we are all striving to become more like Jesus and less like ourselves. Think of it for a moment. In my business life I have found that is often harder for people to "unlearn" a habit or a behavior than it is to inject a new behavior into their life. The thing there is often dissonance between what we want to learn and what we already know. In order for this new learning to take root we must unlearn the dissonant action. Pursuing Christ with honesty and passion is not easy and I do not believe it is supposed to be. I know that there is that saying, "Live for God easy and it's hard, Live for God hard and it's easy." That is clever and it makes sense, but I don't how to make a new and foreign discipline easy aside from saying that it takes practice.
Consider the story that Jesus told the crowd about those who have once put their hand to the plow and then look back are not worthy of the Kingdom. What is this verse doing or teaching? It is talking to us about cost, commitment, and mind-made-up-ness. There will be things that will make us want to look back. Maybe it's not to see the things we left. Maybe it's to see how far we have come. Could that be so bad? No, but you run the risk of not being mindful of the NOW. The modern farmer can sit in his GPS guided tractor and read the paper and drink coffee and not look at anything happening around him.
The kind of plowing Jesus was talking about was real work. A crooked furrow meant crooked rows. Crooked rows meant more work to weed and more work to harvest. PLUS it was a billboard to anyone and everyone that walked by that the person working the field at some point became more concerned with what was behind that what was ahead. I saw a movie one time where an Italian race car driver got into a very expensive race car and the first thing he did was tear the rear view mirror off the window; to everyones amazement. Then he said, " Whatsa behinda me, is nota important!"
How do I get to Carnegie Hall? Practice! How do I become more like my teacher Jesus? Practice. I recently read someone that said in life there are no failures only lessons. In athletics you hear coaches over and over remind their players of fundamentals. You can't do the flashy stuff if you cant do that basic stuff. But you also can't kick yourself day in and day out for not being a virtuoso if you just started or if you have given up practicing. Kick yourself a little for giving up. Expect it to be hard to unlearn and learn at the same time. We have been given many great and precious gifts that will make our learning more effective if not easier. Sometimes learning comes in spurts and giant steps are taken. Other times it is the day in and day out working on the same thing over and over and over. Don't take that as an indication of some defect in you. Take that as a part of learning that has great value.
The old saying is ,"If it was easy then everyone would be doing it" has some merit here. Struggling is a good sign. Jacob struggled all night with the angel of the Lord and the best he could do was not let the heavenly messenger go. I can see it; this dirty, dusty, dude, long robe twisted around his body, maybe pulled up to his waist with the angels foot pulled close to Jacobs chest with two arms and hands locking it there. Let's just be clear, this was not about wrestling, it was about commitment to not quit. The angel was well able to eliminate all but the memory of Jacob from that place. That was not why he visited and let this mortal get a grip. He was sent to see if this liar and deceiver would give up and maybe try to come up with a financial solution to his dilemma (remember he was afraid). No, Jacob laid down at the gate of heaven, the house of God, and the angel called him out. "I know you want it but how bad?" " I know you can do it, but will you?" At the end the angel just touched him on the inner thigh and changed the way this man would walk from that day forward. How did he feel after all that practicing? Exhausted probably. Sweaty and dirty? Yes! But he was no longer Jacob, the Liar. He had unlearned that. He was now Israel!!! He was a Prince with God. He had learned the lesson he dreaded but he learned it. Let me go, for the day is coming!!!! I WILL NOT LET YOU GO UNLESS YOU BLESS ME!!!! So he crippled him, and changed Him. Man that makes me want to shout!!! He stood up, straightened his robes, dusted himself off, and (my imagination) took a bow as those in heaven watched these events and the skies thundered with their applause. Not a wasted visit. So what then of you and I? Well, we need to practice before we preach. I mean really practice before you preach. There are elegantly simple truths that will take us a lifetime to refine. To bring out the full depth of emotion that is contained in them. But it must be known. It must be felt. It must come from the work that it took to possess this knowledge. The price will have to be paid.
Why don't we see healings like the book of Acts? Why aren't we able to call out the names of the interlopers(unclean spirits) that visit our assemblies for the deliverance of people? Why are we grumpy (petty and judgmental) when we see a dirty person at the store? Why indeed. We haven't learned it yet from Christ!! Sure we have read our bibles and can find even the minor prophets when they are referenced by the preacher. I mean who reads Hosea unless the minister calls out the verse? There is a practice lesson in there brother and sister. Read of the prophet and his love for an unfaithful woman, Gomer, and see if the lesson of forgiving and forgiving is not there for us. It takes practice.
I will let you in on a secret. I am trying to learn this lesson from the Master Teacher. Miracles and great demonstrations of the Spirit are for the Glory of God. Not the church. They are to show and remove all doubt that God is God and all the praise and honor is his. This is a hard lesson for me, I have to admit. But it's consistent with the rest of the lesson book. This thing is not, nor has it ever been, about me. It is always and forever about the Glory of the One. "I am the Lord and My glory I will not give to another!" The Most High whose train fills the temple and his voice makes the mountains shake. Whose very garment was a high voltage transmission line of virtue to heal. Faith is necessary, but I think that hard part is the WHY of healing. Why do I want to see them healed? For their healths sake? That might be good enough for the one who breaks through the roof to get the one in need into the meeting, but is that good enough for me as a minister of the Gospel, empowered by the Spirit that RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD? When I have a better grip on this or have it learned, and if the Lord allows it, I will share this also in a blog. For the time being, know that class is in session for anyone who wants to shed the hold, the stain, the stink of this world and hide themselves in the savior, for then will we appear with Him.
God bless you and give you a ravenously hungry heart for truth and righteousness!
Jim
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