REPOSTED FROM: November 12, 2012
God’s Word
2 Peter 1:5-8 “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Oswald Chambers Thoughts
“The right thing to do with habits is to lose them in the life of the Lord, until every habit is so practiced that there is no conscious habit at all. Our spiritual life continually resolves into introspection, because there are some qualities we have not added yet...Watch how your Father will upset those times if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes – ‘I can’t do that right now, I am praying; it is my hour with God.’ No, it is the hour with your habit…Recognize the defect and then look for the opportunity of exercising yourself along the line of the quality to be added.”
Lisa’s Thoughts
The problem with consciously developing habits is that they have the tendency to become a goal which we must claim at any cost. Just as Mary did when Jesus came to visit her and Martha, we, too, focus so diligently on completing the task before us that we neglect other things that are more important. We must set goals in order of priority and accomplish them as God would have us do. Interruptions sent by God to keep our spirit in line should be met with a pleasant attitude and a willing heart, not a grumbling spirit.
If I try to develop a habit of mopping the floors every Tuesday and Friday and I consciously make an effort to complete my new chore on time that is a admirable goal. However, if a child needs my attention in the midst of gathering my mop and bucket, my persistence in making my floor sparkle can and should wait. Developing this habit of keeping my floors clean is not a sin, but it is a sin to neglect my priorities for the sake of developing a good habit. The important thing is that I not overlook or neglect things that God presents to me when I am in the midst of developing a new habit. The sin is not in the motivation of developing habits, but the way in which we hold them to be so utterly important when we are in the process of developing them. Habits must not become our gods.
More importantly spiritual and relational habits should become so much of a second nature to us that they are hardly habits at all. We should seek to add qualities to our spiritual repertoire, so that those qualities keep us productive and effective in our spiritual lives. Constant inventory should be taken of our spiritual condition and that introspection should become a natural habit. The beautiful result is that this new spiritual growth will overflow into our daily lives.
Just remember to bring to Jesus every new habit you desire to make and then let the Holy Spirit guide you in developing those habits at the correct time and place. God will lead us if we ask! Let God be God and not your habits!
Lisa Metzger
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