What Habits are Defining Me?
I am one of those weird people who really look forward to making New Year’s Resolutions. I create a document of goals I want to accomplish in each area of my life and try to reflect on how I did for the prior year’s resolutions. However, goals and resolutions are pretty useless without a plan to accomplish them. If you read goal setting books, you will eventually get to a section about breaking them down into much smaller steps which usually break down to create a new habit. Habit is defined as “a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.” We can create good habits, and we most certainly can create bad habits as well. When we set goals, the key is to work on developing GOOD habits so that a habit does eventually become a tendency that is hard to give up.
What is interesting is that we, as people, are made up of our habits. I still have a vivid mental image of my Granddaddy sitting at the breakfast table every morning eating Malt-o-Meal, shaving with an electric shaver, and reading the Bible. Those were his morning habits. And those helped define my Granddaddy.
We live in a day and time where emotions and feelings are often used as indicators of our commitment. However, as most of us know – these might be the worst indicators of all. I often don’t feel like working out, but I have developed a habit of regularly working out, and so even if I don’t feel like it, it is a regular tendency that is hard to give up. Having said that – I am almost always glad I did the workout after I am done (notice I said ALMOST always)! My point is, I can’t let my emotions or feelings guide me in this practice, or I would end up rarely if ever working out.
The same can be said for many spiritual disciplines. There is a reason they are called disciplines – because it takes discipline to build and maintain these practices. You can include everything from going to church, to prayer, to daily bible study in these practices.
But you may ask – why are building these practices important? I was listening to a podcast recently that I believe answered this perfectly using the example of attending worship services. The gentleman was talking about a time in his life where he was drifting spiritually – he wasn’t living as he should. He stated that he believed one of the reasons he steered back on the right path though was that he never stopped going to church. There was a habit that had been built that was hard to break, and eventually, something penetrated back into his soul from that habit to add the love and emotion back. Emotions and feelings come and go – but commitment helps us to hold steady despite our emotions.
God knows us far better than we know ourselves - notice the regular habits and rhythms that He sets up for His people. In the Old Testament, there were yearly festivals and feasts and a weekly Sabbath. All of these were set up to help the Israelites develop habits that would define them. In the New Testament, we are given the example of the Lord’s Supper once a week to remember Jesus’ sacrifice. There is another example given in Acts 17:10-12 where the Bereans are described as studying the scriptures daily – this habit defined them.
One may argue that our worship must be more than just rote habit. Of course, it should be – but it also should be a regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up. And it is the habit that allows us to stay committed in the deep valleys of despair, as otherwise, we may never be able to get into the regular practice again.
So, I tell my kids when discussing spiritual practices – yes, we are developing a habit – and you may not always “feel” like going to church or reading or praying – but our habits define us, and they mold us. There are some mornings that I am so into my Bible reading and gain great insights. There are some mornings (maybe in the Numbers list of gold and silver bowls) where I am just slogging through – but I am showing up, I am setting a path, and I am committed. I continue to pray for my attitude those mornings, and I will typically find I am glad I completed the work for that day.
So, now as I look back on a year or maybe a week, I try and see – what habits are defining me? To my children and my friends and my co-workers? Are they habits of complaining, laziness, and self-indulgence? Are they habits of diligence, encouragement, and self-sacrifice? Are we like Paul who in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 states, “So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”? Are we developing similar habits to the woman described in Proverbs 31? Are we dwelling on the pure and lovely as Phil. 4:8 describes? Take a moment to assess what is defining you today.
