Bad Habits

Belinda Bath, Australia

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." – Philippians 4:8

devotional

Galatians 5:16-17– Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have bad habits. Those things we do and say that we wish we didn’t. Some habits are difficult to break and some are incredibly difficult to break. Whatever it is, we’ve probably either become comfortable with certain habits in our lives, or we think they’re too difficult to overcome. Why is change so challenging? Paul tells us that we must “live by following the Spirit” because we want what is “against the Spirit.” Basically, right and wrong are at war with each other inside us. So, when we try to do the right thing, there’s literally a war going on to try to prevent us from doing just that. We could also say that self is at war with the Spirit.

Self conforms to the world, but the Spirit renews the mind. Self gives into temptation, but the Spirit trusts God for a way out. Self gratifies fleshly desires, but better than normal walks by God’s Spirit. Self gives in to worry, the Spirit prays for strength and guidance. Self allows evil to win, but the Spirit submits to God. Self ignores sin, but the Spirit repents and receives forgiveness. The bottom line about our bad habits is that if we focus on beating them, it may be hard to do just that. But, if we strive to make our lives healthy, many of the bad habits we’ve adopted will fall away. What we focus on is what will grow stronger in our lives.

Philippians 4:8 – Ryan Blair once said “If it is important, you will find a way. If it’s not, you will find an excuse.” Instead of making excuses about our poor diet or how we speak, let’s fight to continually renew our minds by thinking about the things laid out in this verse. Our actions will change when our minds do so use scripture by memorising it and meditating on it.

1 John 4:12-14 – Something the spirit has been teaching me is not to talk to others about other people through . Even if it me seemed subtle or well-intentioned, God considers it gossip . Going to the person directly and speaking to them first is better. Things that may seem normal to our culture are not ok in the eyes of God because we are followers of Jesus. We need to follow God's word and the spirit. I love this scripture - how god said that no one has seen him but if we love one other then God lives in us in all areas of our life.

reflection questions

• What are the bad habits that you continue to struggle with?

• Are there actions you do or words you say that are normal but not beneficial? If you aren’t sure, ask God to reveal your heart so that you can live a life that is lead by the spirit, not self.