Build a New Habit: Developing Better, Healthier Habits

When I used to bowl regularly years ago, I would occasionally roll a high score – in the low 200s – but couldn’t do that on a consistent basis. I was stuck with averages between 130 and 140. The reason was simple: I kept doing the same thing the same way, expecting different results. To become a better bowler, I needed to change my form and technique.

It's much the same for just about every area of life. In our most honest moments, we admit there are things in our lives we would like to change, but we fail to take steps necessary to bring about those changes. As has often been said in a similar way, if you keep doin’ what you’ve been doin’, you’re gonna keep gettin’ what you’ve been gettin’. 

 

So how do we bring about the changes we would like to experience? I like what consultant Tim Kight has to say: “Your habits are perfectly designed to get the results they’re getting. If you want different results, you must build new habits.”

 

He’s right. For instance, if someone is overweight and out of shape due to not eating properly and not exercising, just reading books about getting healthy and sitting in a recliner watching exercise videos won’t help. The best of intentions are worthless if not followed by appropriate action. 

 

Like many of us, my own physical health has suffered a bit due to the COVID restrictions. My regimen of exercising at least three times a week virtually disappeared over the past year, and I have to admit it’s been too easy to indulge on good-tasting snacks. So one of my goals this year is to form new habits – actually, to return to some old, better habits. As I write this, I’m preparing to head back to the Y (taking the prescribed precautions) and cut back on the pound-packing snack foods.

 

As it says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” This doesn’t mean the Lord wants us to build bigger temples!

 

There are some other habits in my life I need to either change, or revisit. These include my spiritual life. Over the past year, despite what I had intended, my daily time with the Lord wasn’t as consistent as it should have been. I allowed too many distractions to get in the way. So I’m resuming a good, old habit: Reading through the Bible over the course of this year, using a daily schedule I’ve found very helpful in the past.

 

Two passages immediately come to mind as I think about this. Writing to his protégé, Timothy, the apostle Paul wrote, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

 

Another is Psalm 119:9, 11, which says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word…. I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might sin against you.” I’m not a young man anymore, but the principle has no age limitations. The only way to live as God intended is for us to know and apply His Word in everything we do.

 

It goes back to recognizing when we’ve developed bad or unproductive habits, and determining to replace them with good, more fruitful ones. But habits aren’t established in a day or even a week. You know the old saying, “Practice makes perfect”? Well, that’s not exactly true. Because if we keep practicing by doing things the wrong way, we won’t become “perfect.” We’ll only become adept at doing things wrong – like my old bowling habits. 

 

We need to understand that, Perfect practice makes perfect. Whether in trying to get better at a sport, playing a musical instrument, building stronger relationships, or establishing a more fruitful, growing walk with the Lord, we need to learn how to do things the right way – and then keep doing them, every day.

 

As Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to follow me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ is not something we can do once a week or whenever the mood strikes us. It’s got to be a daily commitment, a determination to deny self and everyday distractions; in effect, dying to ourselves. That’s a habit well worth cultivating through perfect practice.

Celebrating an Easter Unlike Any Other

Almost forgotten in the non-stop coverage of COVID-19 is the soon-arriving celebration of Easter. In years past, people rushed around, fussing over such things as Easter bonnets and new Sunday outfits. Easter egg hunts were scheduled, and parents were “consulting” with the Easter bunny about what to leave in their children’s baskets. Then, once we got past the commercialism, we began remembering that  Easter is really about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This year, despite the hopeful optimism of some of our government leaders, it’s likely the doors of most churches will be closed, with congregants having to settle for online Easter observances. For many followers of Jesus, Easter without physically attending a worship service is almost unimaginable. How can we worship without doing so in “the house of God”?

Not to minimize the value and experience of joining with other believers to celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death. Some of the most powerful moments in my spiritual life have occurred on Easter, not only singing (as best I could) the traditional hymns but also hearing talented vocalists perform such selections as “We Shall Behold Him” or “Rise Again.”

However, there’s good news. The Scriptures clearly and repeatedly assert that we don’t need to go to a building, or even be in the physical presence of other followers of Jesus, to “go to church.” Because, we are told, He lives within us. Consider the following:

“Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). There was a time when I foolishly believed that when I entered a church building, I was entering into the presence of God – and that when I exited the building, I also was leaving His presence. This passage assures us this is not the case.

Another verse says much the same: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). So in a real sense, in normal times when we can “go to church” together, it amounts to an assembly of “temples of the Holy Spirit.”

Even better, we don’t have to be around others who profess their allegiance to Christ to live as He would want us to do. The fact that He lives in each of us through His Spirit means we don’t need to rely on positive peer pressure for living rightly. As Romans 8:9 says, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.” As Jesus promised, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Hopefully, once the coronavirus is under control and a vaccine has been developed, we’ll enjoy the delights of joining with fellow believers in rejoicing over Jesus’ resurrection. But even now we can reflect on what that means for us, both for the present and for eternity:

“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised…. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…. But Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:13-20).

There’s more to the story. In a time when the specter of death seems ever-present, we have the promise – the absolute confidence – that for all who have received Jesus Christ, physical death is not the end. It’s only a pause before a new beginning:

“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that was written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).

Even if our contact is only through words appearing on the screen of a computer or some other electronic device, let me extend to you a greeting that Christians have shared through many centuries: “Happy Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed!”