Our minds remember the strangest things. Back when I was a freshman in college we all had to give speeches in English class. Henry gave a speech that I remember to this day. The thrust of his brief speech was to refute the old adage that, "Practice makes perfect." Henry’s point was that practice only makes perfect that which you practice. In other words you may practice something, say a piece of music on the piano, and have several of the notes wrong. You practice and practice until you play the piece perfectly. But you are playing it perfectly wrong. Several of the notes are incorrect. Practice in this case does not make perfect. It only makes perfect that which you are practicing.

In our text for today, Jesus also seems to be refuting the "Practice makes perfect" saying. "Beware of prac…