Get Your Poop in a Group!

It has been said that bad habits are easy to form and hard to live with and good habits are hard to form and easy to live with. If that is true then I must be careful of the habits I develop and the appetites for which I foster. Your habits are like a slave master running on automatic pilot. They can either be a wonderful helper or the most devious of destroyers.

Paul, one of the earliest Christian teachers taught to “take every thought captive” and “to see that no one take you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world. . .” For this reason you must be careful what you allow to, affect your thinking. It is almost like he is saying, “It is time to graduate from elementary school and live with skill and sound judgment.”

You see, our United States culture, as wonderful as it is, no longer has any safe guards for discouraging poor behavior. Anything goes. This is also true inside the Church. You can find support for just about any desire that you have on Sunday morning as you can throughout the week.

The habits we keep in secret are the most destructive because they not only deceive other people, but they also deceive you. Remember that you can fool your spouse, fool your boss, fool your friends and even fool yourself, but you can never fool God; for He is not mocked. You will reap what you sow. Not to think so is just being naïve.

For this reason it is imperative that you look honestly at your life and actions and what you are doing. This takes courage and guts because it means honest and open exploration of who you are and what you are doing. This is probably the most difficult of all steps, but is a critical first step to take. Only when we honestly look inside do we begin to see our utter depravity and shortcomings. I see that I am helpless by myself. MY heart is wicked and desperately sick, even I cannot understand it. Like a leopard cannot change his spots, I cannot change who I am, but I can change my behavior - with help.

It is at this bleak state that the hope of the cross and the Holy Spirit comes to the rescue. My nature and desire for bad habits will never change, but I can chose to walk in a different manner. But, it is not easy. Which is why the Lord sent the follower of Christ a “Helper” in the Holy Spirit.

The wall of a bad habit must come down the same way that they went up, one brick at a time. In all probability it will be difficult, which is why the help of the Holy Spirit in a Believers life is so critical. Do not quench the Spirit in your life for it is your only hope for change for the better.

With our will we can choose our thoughts. Our thoughts dictate our actions. Our actions form habits. Our habits develop character. Our character determines our destiny.

Habits are the actions that yield results. But, remember that it begins deep within your spirit and with the will. You can choose what you will and will not act upon.

The most effective way to eliminate a destructive habit is to replace it with a productive one. Like Erasmus said, “A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.” I dare you to take a 30-day test to attack and destroy just one bad habit that is holding you back from living the life you were created to live. Not two or ten habits, just one. For thirty days, I dare you to attack one and utterly destroy it. Do whatever it takes to eradicate it from your life once and for all.

RJ Regan is the author of Gambling for Life: Stacking the odds in your favor for more money and great sex. He can be contacted at www.gamblingforlife.com

Good habits, which bring our lower passions and appetites under automatic control, leave our natures free to explore the larger experiences of life. Too many of us divide and dissipate our energies in debating actions which should be taken for granted.

Ralph W. Sockman

Each year, one vicious habit rooted out, in time ought to make the worst man good. Benjamin Franklin

Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.

Mark Twain

Nothing is stronger than habit. 
Ovid

Pursuits become habits. 
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity. 
Saint Augustine

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