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Overcoming bad habits
Overcoming bad habits
With the Days of Unleavened Bread behind us and Pentecost approaching rapidly; we have heard many times about the need to overcome. But what, specifically, are some of the things we should be focused on? How about bad habits? Aren't they actually what comprise the “sins that so easily beset us” (Hebrews 12:1)?
Many of us get up in the morning and immediately stumble into a dark kitchen to start the coffee pot. We can't get started in the morning without our coffee. There is a term for that (besides “addiction”) - it's called a “habit.” Habits allow us to perform any number of actions without significant conscious thought or effort. That's why we need to take note of some of our habits to make sure they aren't negative, or bad. A habit could be something as simple as tying our shoe, riding a bike, or learning to swim. Those are all habits. A habit is nothing but a learned pattern of acting, thinking, or feeling. It isn't something we were born with -like animal instinct. Good habits and bad habits are formed the same way, and unfortunately, bad habits are very difficult to unlearn!
If you think about it, what we call our “personality,” is to a great extent, just a composition of thousands of individual and specific habits. We are as the saying goes “creatures of habit,” - habits of thinking, habits of acting, habits of feeling. But the point I want to dwell on, is the negative side of our life - our bad habits. Bad habits limit, or cripple our human potential - that of being born into the very family of God. And, many bad habits are in fact, what the Bible calls sin. They actually violate God's Ten Commandments.
I want to give you four fundamental and essential steps that must be applied to break a bad habit. This is something we should all pay close attention to, because improving your life - either physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually - is largely a matter of changing or overcoming bad habits. And, it takes strong character to breakbad habits!
The first step in changing any bad habit is: Admit what you are doing, or thinking, or feeling is wrong and harmful. In other words, the first step is repentance! It's impossible to change without this first step. We must deep down in our minds determine, or admit that what we are doing, or thinking is wrong. We can't justify or excuse what ever the habit is. We must see and admit that it is damaging to us, or to others.
After this first critical step is taken, we can go to number two: Powerfully resolve to change and quit the wrong habit immediately. This is actually the second step in repentance. You can't put it off or procrastinate and you can't succeed with a weak or half-hearted effort (Eccl.9:10). Try to grasp the consequences, or potential consequences if you don't change. If it's something that's breaking a Commandment, it could very easily lead to the lake of fire!
The third point: Develop a change-of-behavior plan. Inother words, try to gain an understanding of the influences, or situations that spark old habits patterns and avoid them. Develop right and positive habits or thought patterns to replace the old, bad ones. Make a conscious effort to repeat the new patterns as often as you can and thus form a new, good habit, or way of thinking and acting. It's been said that you must stick with a new way of doing something about 30 days, for it to become a new habit. The point being, you must keep your eyes on the goal and never give in - even once. But, we know that no matter how hard we try, sometimes we slip up. That too, is part of the process of repentance. Get up and start again. Resolve even more this time not to give in. Ask God in humble faith, to strengthen you and put you back on the right path. Failure is guaranteed only if you give up!
The fourth point: Seek professional help if necessary to overcome destructive habits. Some damaging habits require the help or advice of others. Perhaps it's just counseling with a minister, or in some cases, help is needed from drug counselors, or Alcoholics Anonymous, or Gamblers Anonymous, or other support groups. There are also self help books and aids available from libraries and bookstores.
Changing bad habits may require that we make drastic changes in our life. We can probably all tell stories of how our life changed after we came into contact with the truth ofGod. We all had to change some bad living habits, didn't we?
A vital point to remember is, God doesn't have any bad habits! He is in the process of developing His character in us. The Bible reveals God's pure way of life. It shows us that living right before God, is nothing more than forsaking our wrong ways - overcoming wrong habits of acting, thinking and feeling and replacing them with God's ways. It is developing - with God's help - sound mental, emotional and spiritual traits of character. Revelation 3:21 says, “to him that overcomes,” (and that includes sinful pulls and habits), that person, Jesus Christ says, He “will grant to sit with Him in His throne.”
So, during this countdown period to Pentecost, I encourage each of you to use the four points I've given you to overcome any bad habits you have and replace them with good habits, or works - being a “doer of good works and not a hearer only” (James 1:22). Let's be a “sweet savor” to our Father and Jesus Christ.
“Whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do, do it with thy
might; for there is no work,
nor device, nor knowledge,
nor wisdom, in the grave,
whither thou goest”
Eccl 9:10
Pete Fleming
English is a Wordy Language
Different dictionaries peg the number of words in the English language at between 450,000 to 790,000. Linguists attribute the wide discrepancy to variations in accounting for multiple tenses, pluralizations, and meanings. For example, some dictionaries don't count “person” and “persons” as two separate words, but others do.
More than 750 million speak English, but less than half consider it their native language.
According to Bill Bryson, author of the “Mother Tongue” there are 200,000 English words in common usage, which is more than German at 185,000 and French at less than 100,000. Bryson contends that William Shakespeare used a vocabulary of only 33,000 words.
Other linguists say that the average person knows about 20,000 words and uses 2,000 different words in any given week. Still others assert that most people have learned 60,000 words by the time they reach 18, for an average of 10 new words a day from the first birthday on.
Fuel for Thought Vol 4
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