Bad Habits Die Hard
By Darin Browne
Habits are actions that we are conditioned to do by repetition, and they can be good or bad. In my life, getting up in the morning to spend time with the Lord, or going each Sunday to church are good habits, whereas staying up too late and drinking too much coffee are not so good. When we think of habits, we usually think about the bad ones; the ones that control our lives, which we seem powerless to deal with. To really grow with the Lord we need to have victory over our bad habits, but before we gain victory we must know the enemy we are facing.
Recognize the Habit.
One of the problems we face with bad habits is that we often don't recognize them until we are at their mercy. They are especially powerful because they are strongholds of the enemy in our minds. They may be obvious, or may be subtle thought patterns which we almost subconsciously allow to have their way in our lives.
Some are easier to see than others. It is not hard to see that smoking, drinking alcohol, taking drugs or swearing can become bad habits, but we must remember that habits can be formed of drinking coffee or tea, watching too much TV, following football, losing your temper, holding grudges, gossip, eating too much chocolate or even shopping. Some people are addicted to some of these seemingly normal activities, and you may be one of them!
How do you know what is a bad habit in your life? As a general rule, if you continue to do it, even if you know it is wrong, it is a bad habit. You can give it a different name, you can pretend you are not drawn to it, but if you can't control the activity, but it controls you, it's a bad habit.
Let's face it, sin is sin, and disobedience is disobedience! If you do it, and you know God does not want that for your life, it is sin. All of us have these sins, and like Paul in Romans 7:15-20, we struggle but still find ourselves doing what we don't want to do! The more we do it and ignore how God feels about it, the more our conscience is dulled, and the more our bad habit digs in, deeper and deeper into our souls.
The Growth of a Habit.
Another thing which makes bad habits hard to detect is that they usually don't suddenly appear, but subtly grow, little by little (Pr 24:33). These strongholds are assembled by Satan, brick by brick, and when you finally recognize it you say, "what in the world am I doing!" If you saw the end result, and the best description of this is bondage, you would never have given building approval to the site which now houses a strong hold.
Then again, other strong holds and bondages in our lives we actually work very hard to get into! Most smokers hated the taste and coughing fits involved in their first cigarettes, and many drinkers thought beer tasted horrible when they started. At very least, we most often have a guilty conscience (such as the habitual thief or liar or gossiper), but we ignore the pain or discomfort in order to entrench the bad habit in our life! It's crazy, but it's true in my life, and probably in yours too.
Reasons and Excuses!
Once a bad habit is established, the next response is to explain away our behaviour, covering the habit with a thin layer of reasoning and excuses, hoping no one will discover its existence, especially us! "I only smoke because it stops me eating too much", or "I only eat because it stops me smoking too much." Ever since the Garden of Eden, where Adam blamed God and Eve in one, brief sentence (Genesis 3:12), we have been creatures of bad habits, and equally bad excuses. Favourites in my life include, "everybody's doing it", "I'm not hurting anyone" and "it's not as bad as so and so's behaviour!" Do any of these ring a bell in your life?
The Lord has been showing me that comparisons with others are worthless, because if I am to walk with Him and see His will fulfilled in my life, I must face these persistent and sinful habits. He doesn't want pretense and He doesn't want excuses, He wants us to be responsible. As Bill often preaches, God says, "don't cover up your sin, own up, and I'll cover over!"
In the same way, you just can't blame Satan for everything. Some of us are busy casting out devils when what we need to do is deal with our sin! Yes he is the tempter, and yes he wants to see our life bound and controlled by bad habits, but blaming him and not facing our responsibility gets us nowhere. Sure, demons might tempt us, but whose fault is it for giving in to temptation? James 1:14 clearly lays the blame at our feet because "each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.."
Zeal to Deal: The Road to Victory.
Bad habits die hard, and can be the most frustrating and soul destroying sins to conquer. Yet we know they must be dealt with, because they are strongholds which become focal points for Satanic influence in our lives, and they feed on our apathy and inability to combat them. I remember a song which said, "Can't help myself; bad habits". This is the lack of zeal we feel to deal with the real issue of bad habits. Can't help yourself? That's right, but God can help yourself, and He is willing to if we ask Him. God tells us we can have victory over our habits: 2 Corinthians 10:4 - "the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
The first step is to decide we have had enough, and want to get serious about pulling this strong hold down. You see, no one is winning here except the devil. The end result of our disobedience is death, spiritually, emotionally and, in the case of smoking, for example, physically. James 1:15 says, " after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." Satan is the one who tempts, and his aim is death, yet I believe God allows us to be tempted. However, we have His promise that we will never be tempted beyond what we can bear, "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." (1 Cor 10 :13). This includes the many and powerful temptations surrounding bad habits.
The next thing we must recognize is sin has no power over us when we are in Christ, and His grace. "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14 ) . Now, our flesh is still struggling with sinful habits, but we must recognize that, if we really walk with Jesus, and listen to His counsel, we will start to have victory over our bad habits.
Listening to a teaching tape the other day, I recognized that in my life God often allows a period of testing in an area, but only for a time, followed by a period when the problem disappears or reduces for a time, before coming back strongly again. If Satan is the tempter, and God allows him to do this, then God can also hold him at bay, as He desires. I believe that, just as the stronghold was built little by little, so God will allow us to be tested, not beyond our ability to stand, but little by little to gain full victory ultimately!
Kicking the Habit: The Key to Victory.
The key to victory over our bad habits is to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind. " (Romans 12:2). Paul says renewing, not removing of your mind, which tells us we need to guard against the propaganda of the enemy, and not believe rubbish. It is not reasoning, it is not figuring, it is not casting out. The word 'renewing' means "complete renovation", or a total change from the former self into a new self, and the key is to transform our thought processes by washing them with that which is pure and has power to defeat the enemy.
Our real key is the Word of God. We need to read it, meditate on it, and even memorize it, to do whatever we can to renew our mind. We need to "set our minds on things above" (Col 3:2), and fill our minds with the things of God (Phil 4:8). We have to line up our minds with what God wants for us, which is to conquer our bad habits, and we need to speak it out often. We cannot afford to say, "it's too hard" or, "I can't do it", but we must say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:13)". A bad habit is a continued test, and having victory in this test gives rise to a powerful test-imony.
Victory over your bad habits, however long-standing they may be, is possible if your heart, your mind and your faith are set not upon the habit, but upon the Victor. The Word is the key which will break the shackles of a bad habit. Bad habits may die hard, but in Christ they will definitely die!
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