Habits of Holiness

Not a trite phrase to be written off as strictly cliché, but a very urgent sense of responsibility each of us should possess.

What is a habit? A habit can be good or bad. Habits can become so routine that we do them without thinking—both good and bad ones. Habits are a pattern of behavior acquired through repetition.

What do we do to make sure we have a good visit to the dentist’s office? Be in the habit of teeth brushing as part of our daily routine. How can we assure ourselves a better chance of overcoming temptations when they come before us? Be in the habit of reading God’s Word and following His commands.

Some of us have our favorite sports figures perhaps. We might have a person who to us is the pinnacle of success. Did you ever wonder how they got to be so successful? Through the habit of practicing or working many hours a day to be more proficient and more competitive. They developed a talent that sets them apart from others.

Habits are built into our lifestyle. We exit a room, we turn off the lights. We buckle up our seat belts upon entering a vehicle without even thinking about it.

I have had a multitude of occupations during my life. I have been a mechanic and a truck driver. I remember how as a driver, I trained so much that every time I got into a vehicle to drive it, a check list was automatically completed without giving it any thought. Whenever I was on call, I knew by reflex what needed needed to happen, what needed to be packed, and what each team member had to do.

Did you ever think about how much money is spent analyzing our buying habits? Our eating and drinking habits? Our personal hygiene habits? Our driving habits? Even our recreational and worship habits? It’s called “market analyzing.” People are paid to research buying habits. They look at packaging and merchandising and how things are sold. Some employers study work habits to improve your efficiency. I have heard that delivery companies count the steps of employees to determine if their movement can be more efficient and save less time handling packages.

When a company wants to move into a town to start a production business, it analyzes the population to determine the hiring pool, aptitude, demographics, and economy of the area to be sure there will be a good return on their investment. If there is no future for the company because of the area being a poor investment, the company not only misses out, but the future prosperity of the community loses out. So it is with any who have poor habits. Habits of poverty exists among people as displayed in their work and school productivity. Many settle for the least.

Now, Christian, don’t think the Devil isn’t into knowing our habits because he IS. He doesn’t want us to see our full potential, but rather maintain habits in keeping with laziness, greed, and pride. We haven’t been paying attention to our market strategy in distributing the Word of God. Can we “sell” others on the benefit of God’s salvation? In word or deed?

Now, let’s talk about TIME MANAGEMENT. How much time do we waste in the exercise of poor habits? What benefit could be gained by exercising good habits? What health benefits would be gained in exercising healthy habits, like getting to bed early enough to get 7-8 hours of sleep and waking up with enough time to be fully prepared for the opportunities of a new day? Wouldn’t that lower our anxiety? This change might take the elimination of trivial activities.

In my life, I’ve learned that changing habits involves substitute, sharpen, sustain, and success. It takes some time, but given that strategy, you’ll find success. Bad habits, like walking away from a mess you made on the floor. Substitute that by keeping things tidy to prevent accidents and things being lost. The sharpening of a new habit can make it efficient. Cleaning as you go saves from cleaning a bigger mess at the end of the week. The sustaining of a good habit ensures success by making the area safe and your items accounted for and cleaned.

I was thinking of something the other day and brought this up to my wife Julie. What if we focused more on the habits of success and less on the goals of success. In my own life, I’ve tried to set goals that time after time I failed to achieve. It’s hard to set a goal and make it SMART—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. It’s hard to map out something like that with directions on finding the best way to the end. Finding the END usually involves overcoming the obstacles of your weaknesses. It is my feeling that if we build the habits FOR success, the obstacles preventing us from reaching our goals will be naturally eliminated.

A city in Kufa, Iraq, was the scene of mob violence for months. An observer was called in to analyze the pattern of behavior. After watching videos of each violent occurrence, he noticed a pattern. People would fill the square around a certain mosque and when the crowds began to swell, shwarma and kebab vendors would come, hoping to capitalize on the crowds by selling kebabs and shwarmas. By late afternoon, someone would enevitably throw a rock, or other item at police, and the angry mob turned violent.

The observer then made an odd request: going forward, don’t allow food vendors into the square. SO, the police decided to deny the protesters their food. Sure enough, the next day, crowds began to build in the square outside the mosque, loud protests against the police were heard, angry slogans rang out and soon the crowds were restless, AND hungry. Looking for food and finding no vendors who were selling it, the crowds dispersed. Just a change of habit.

So much of our lives is based on habits. We might find it in our habit to frequent the company of a particular group of friends. Among that group of friends we might find the temptation to be in the habit of doing something bad. Not all of our friends care about our best interests. It doesn’t mean that we are going to contribute to mob violence, but the consequences can be the same.

I remember a time in the city of Irbid, Jordan, when a group of men were running through the market area. It looked like something major was happening so I went out into the street to see what the all the commotion was. Pulling the young man towards me, I asked him to slow down, “Shway, shway.” And then I asked, “Shoo hartha, shoo hartha?” “Madha yahduth?” which means, what’s happening? The young man paused and thought for a second and said, “I don’t know. I saw everybody running and so I started running.” We can be pulled into a situation with little to no knowledge of what is going on by the habit of blind compliance.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the distractions that take me away from what is truly worth our time. I used to have some really bad habits. There was a time when first and last thing I did every day is smoke a cigarette. Presently, I’m trying to force myself from looking at my phone the first thing every morning and before bed because it is taking me away from time with my family and time with God. The Devil wants only to distract us from these important things. In fact, we sin when we are in the wrong place at weak time. Imagine if people we love who are on their phones or computers constantly would turn off the power of such devices and plug into us? It would be wonderful! Imagine what God would think if we were to unplug ourselves from the world to focus on His Word? That would be exceedingly wonderful!

1) Jesus was in the habit of prayer. We know this from the references in the Bible that says He was in the habit of prayer. From his youth to adult, he often retreated to a quiet place to pray.

2) Jesus was in the habit of being in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s day. Not much is known about Jesus as a young man, but the verses we do have in Scripture mention Jesus being in the Temple on the Sabbath (Luke chapter 2:42ff). Verse 49 says the Jesus had to be in His Father’s house. Later in Luke 4:16, while in Nazareth, Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath, “as was His custom.”

3) He was in the habit of obedience. John 6:38 says that Jesus came from heaven not to do His own will, but the will of the Father’s. Looking again at Luke chapter 2, verse 51 it says Jesus was in the habit of being obedient to His parents. Of course that was right after his family had discovered he was left behind finding him in the Temple. Jesus further said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” We are not to follow the pattern, or habits, of the world.

4) Jesus was in the habit of loving others. Many times we are told that Jesus was moved with compassion. When little children visited Jesus, the disciples were of the habit of turning them away. When Martha was in the habit of hospitality, Jesus needed to commend Mary for doing something that wasn’t routinely done and was the feet of Jesus and dry them with her hair. Peter was in the habit of sitting at the head of the table and Paul gently corrected his behavior.

These simple habits of Jesus led to opportunity. Opportunity acted upon leads to God’s work being fulfilled. Isn’t that a fine goal to have without setting a goal, but having the habits that get you to the finish?

Try adopting this habit: when someone asked you to help them with something, be in the habit of saying, “Yes, I’d be happy to help you.” When considering going to church, it should be our habit to do so. And lets make prayer NOT a last resort or a reactive occurrence, but a frequent practice so that our minds might be focused always on the will of God in our lives and His sovereignty and grace. If we try these habits of holiness, our lives will conform more to the likeness of Christ. And THAT is our supreme goal and most honoring to God.