Habits

Mark Dunagan
09/26/10 - Sunday Morning

 

Habits

Take a moment before we begin this lesson to write down or think of one or two habits you’d like to break... Now think of one of good habits that would make the most difference for good if you were to add them to your life. Let’s together explore some fundamental and important truths concerning the benefits of establishing good habits, and more importantly, some keys to maintaining good habits long term.

Start Early with the Right Habits

• Long before modern day psychologist announced the first three to five years of life to be the most formative, God has already stated “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). If you have young children, make the most of this “wet concrete” opportunity to instill a love of virtue.
• Establishing good habits starts with a firm decision made with determination. “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach His statues and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).
• “But Daniel made up his mind” (Daniel 1:8). 

“Could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state. We are spinning our own fates, good or evil” (William James).

Preventing Bad Habits is Much Easier than Stopping Them

Habits are so powerful that when bad habits are established early in life, the Bible speaks of such people thus: “The wicked are estranged from the womb; these who speak lies go astray from birth” (Psalm 58:3). 

This obviously does not mean that these people were born sinful (1 Corinthians 14:20), yet it does mean that bad habits were adopted early on in life and that such habits set the course for the reminder of their lives. In fact, bad habits can become so ingrained that the Bible speaks thus:

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil” (Jeremiah 13:23). 

At this point in time Judah could not put the brakes on, just as an Ethiopian could not change his black skin or a leopard his spotted skin, because of the deep-seated wickedness caused by repeated activity in sin, especially the addictive sins involved in idolatry. They had allowed too many opportunities to change, to simply pass by. God gives people time to repent (2 Peter 3:9), yet not all the time in the world. God knows that people can repent, yet God is equally realistic when it comes to bad habits that are being only reinforced each new day. Others have seen the same truth played out in life:

“His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin” (Proverbs 5:22).

The idea is that sin will come back to haunt the sinner, and will eventually catch up to him. Sin ensnares and entraps (1:17-18), it ties a person down, like ropes. The adulterer will find himself tied down by guilt, frustration, financial problems, poor health, etc. Though people like to talk about being “free” to sin as they wish, or that true freedom is found in doing whatever you want to do, sin actually takes away a lot of our freedoms (2 Peter 3:16ff; John 8:34). Anytime – I mean anytime we sin, “cords” are being formed. When we see someone out of control, it is not a mystery how they got there, the answer is the same for the person who has their life together, it is always “habit”. 

“Habit is second nature! Habit is ten times nature” (Duke of Wellington).

This comment explains why some people feel that certain deviant behaviors are inborn. Sinful habits are so powerful, that one can become convinced that this is just “who they are” and that they have always been this way. This is one of the deceptions of the devil (2 Corinthians 2:11). George Crabbe (1754-1832) saw this human tendency when he wrote, “habit with him was all the test of truth, I must be right: I’ve done it from my youth”. Others have noted:

• “Habits are at first cobwebs; at last, chains”
• “Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow”
• “Old habits die hard”

This is what Paul was stressing in Galatians 5:24, when he noted that Christians have “crucified the flesh with its passion and lusts”. We should never be surprised to find that change is difficult and that old sin habits often refuse to leave peacefully. When it comes to repentance, expect resistance from the flesh, expect a fight, and be determined to win. In fact, if you can give up something without any pain, if often means that it didn’t mean that much to you. On the other hand, anything that really gives you a fight – there, you found it, the base for evil in your life. So never be discouraged when repentance in a certain area is really difficult, all it means is that you found the main body of the enemy army, and if you can win here – then you will end up fixing not only this area, but many areas in your life.

The Solution to Bad Habits

• “One habit overcomes another” (Thomas Kempis).

To this the Bible agrees. Sinful habits only die out when they are actually replaced with something else. Thus, the Bible frequently, when mentioning what to remove from our lives, will in the same context specify what needs to be added at the same time (Ephesians 4:22-5:1; Colossians 3:5ff; 2 Timothy 2:22).

The Power of Good Habits

• The Great Economizer of Energy (Elbert Hubbard).

“Unless we can extensively program our behavior, we waste tremendous amounts of information-processing capacity on trivia” (Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 16, 1970). “Habit simplifies the movements required to achieve a given result, makes them more accurate and diminishes fatigue” (William James). When you have good habits down, you don’t waste time thinking about what to do in that situation anymore, you simply do it. Not only that, but you are able to tackle and accomplish all sorts of things because your life is no longer cluttered with a myriad of decisions that have been placed on hold. When there is no backlog, one can move on to bigger and better things. Good habits often open opportunities for you to, over time, enjoy better health, benefit from a higher level of financial security, take pleasure in a more calm and orderly life, and most importantly, grow in your ability to bear good spiritual fruit.

Frustrates Temptation

Before Joseph was ever tempted by Potiphar’s wife, he already had good moral habits (Genesis 39:9). The same is true with Daniel (Daniel 1:8). This is one reason why parents often warn their children about upcoming temptations before they arrive:

• “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent, if they say...”(Proverbs 1:10-11).
• “Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house” (Proverbs 5:8).

We live in a world where Satan has convinced a number of people that one must just “live their own life” by ignoring warnings and learning from their (sometimes life-ruining) mistakes. The problem with this point of view is that once one tries any sin – a cord is form, a chain is made, a habit is conceived, a disease of the heart is contracted. Far better to listen to wise advice and abstain from sin (especially when you have seen so many other people destroyed by it). Good habits derail temptation, because temptation depends upon some mental fantasy (James 1:14-15), and if doing the right thing in a situation has become habitual and second nature, then one need not even consider an unholy alternative. For example, some people struggle with attending worship because every week they wrestle with or ponder with the option of whether or not to go to services. Those who don’t have any problem with this are those who have made attendance a habit, and don’t even consider any other choice in the matter. When it comes to doing the right thing, we need to have the attitude that there is no other alternative, like Daniel’s three friends (Daniel 3:16-18). It is amazing how streamlined and orderly life becomes when you just start doing what God says and have the attitude that there is no other alternative to be considered. For example:

• There is no other alternative than treating my wife with honor: 1 Peter 3:7
• There is no other choice other than honoring and obeying my parents: Ephesians 6:1-2
• Obeying the elders? Of course!: Hebrews 13:17
• Abiding within the doctrine of Christ is the only option for me: 2 John 9

Stay with It

“Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life. Each lapse is like the letting fall of a ball of string which one is carefully winding up, a single slip undoes more than a great many turns will wind again” (William James). No wonder God stresses the importance of keeping after something good, as in “pursuing it” (2 Timothy 2:22) and not growing weary in well-doing. The devil tries to convince us that we deserve a break and that a temporary lapse back into bad behavior will not be that serious.

Make All Useful Actions A Habit

In other words, everything that God commands me to do – is not only reasonable (Romans 12:1-2), it is entirely profitable and useful (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and very worth the time and effort it takes to establish obedience to them as second nature in my day to day life.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net