Day 328 - Habits

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Oswald Chambers, in his work, My Utmost For His Highest, said this about habits.

"When we first begin to form a habit, we are fully aware of it. The right thing to do with godly habits is to immerse them in the life of the Lord until they become such a spontaneous expression of our lives that we are no longer aware of them." May 12th devotional

Habits, like just about everything else we have control of in this world, work like a double edged sword. On one hand, habits are necessary so that we can make progress in whatever the habit focuses us towards. On the other, habits can turn into ritual. Ritual almost always leads to stagnation and death. Victim thinking is rooted in the stagnate state some of us are stuck in when it comes to ritual that has results from certain habits in our lives.

Victor living happens as habits take us to places of growth that we could have never gone had not we put in the effort for change. Chambers tells us that, with habits, at first we are fully aware of them in our lives. That's not a bad thing. What makes us aware is the fact that habits make change something very noticeable. That can be a good thing.

It's like when we decide that it is time to lose some weight. When we institute a habit of eating differently we often notice immediate change. The result of losing weight as the habit is formed makes it easy to see the cause and effect relationship between the habit and what we want to happen. Unfortunately most of us never let habit move to the next level of integration in our lives.

It is when we are fully immersed in the actions surrounding a habit that we become unaware that the habit is there in our lives. Where we are fully aware of the habit at first, it is when the habit becomes fully integrated into who we are that that habit unleashes a power in our lives like nothing we could have ever hoped before.

Chambers calls this time a "spontaneous expression of our lives". When a habit is fully integrated into our lives, we don't have to think about making that habit happen. It is a part of our lives as naturally as breathing. That's how spiritual habits are suppose to be in the life of a victor.

Our spiritual life is negatively impacted in two ways when it comes to habits. First of all, many of us fail to establish habits that help us fight off the effects of victim thinking. Whether it be church attendance, bible reading, prayer, worship, fellowship or any number of disciplines, without taking deliberate steps toward making these things happen in our lives, we will never benefit from what God promises that these disciplines can do for His Children. Failing to institute a godly habit is what keeps many of us trapped in victim thinking.

Just as bad as failing to institute a godly habit in the life of a victor is the fact that we allow the world to shortchange that habit when it comes to being fully integrated in our lives. For so many of us, we have instituted habits surrounding any number of Christian disciplines but those habits are nothing more than tradition.

Chambers says this about habits that aren't allowed to fully integrate in our lives. "Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day." Way too many of us have many gods (with a little g) in our lives. Some of these gods are, on the surface, things that appear to be really good for us. Bible reading, prayer, worship and any other Christian discipline can become an idol that blocks our vision of the God (with a capital G) that made us. It is when we turn to idols to help us find and maintain who we are that victim thinking takes a hold in our lives. Habits become idols in our life when we don't allow them to become part of who we are.

How do we know if habits are becoming idols in our lives? Chambers has it right when he says one word makes the difference between habits that are good for us and habits that are drawing us away from God. The word that makes all the difference is, Love. Check out what he says about the role of love when it comes to habits. "Love means that there are no visible habits— that your habits are so immersed in the Lord that you practice them without realizing it."

It's like this. Let's say that you decide that you want to get closer to this God of yours. Maybe you have been hearing at church how important a daily Bible reading plan is when it comes to drawing closer to God. You decide that you are going to set aside time every morning to read God's word and let Him show you how to draw near. At first, it takes a lot of effort and attention to make this habit have impact in your life. Cool thing is that it doesn't take long to see benefits of making this habit part of your life. Now we are at a point of making victim thinking or victor living happen in our lives.

If you doggedly stick to this Bible reading plan for no other reason than just making the habit stick, trouble is going to happen. God isn't interested in getting you into a plan to gain knowledge about Him. He wants you to take action to discover His love for you. Reading about Him doesn't develop love. Taking time to be with God is what makes it possible to experience love in a way where habits become so integrated in our lives that they become that spontaneous expression Chambers says they should be. Sometimes we need to stop doing the habit so that the result of what the habit was there for in the first place can be seen. The habit of Bible reading isn't the goal. The result of seeing, feeling and reflecting God's love is what any spiritual discipline should be all about.

Our Bible reading today really puts habits into the proper perspective when it comes to love. Check it out with me now.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)

Tongues, prophecy, knowledge and faith are nothing without love. These are some of the most powerful attributes of our walk with God, but without love they are clanging cymbals. We gain nothing from them and we are nothing as a result of having them part of our lives. Oh, but when these habits of Christian discipline are under-girded by love, they produce a sweet melody. We gain so much from their being a part of our lives. They truly make us something to behold. Love has a power to make habit change us and change the world.

So, what's a person looking to live like a victor to do? Here's my suggestion. Take a look at your life and see what God might be saying about the habits you need to institute and get integrated in your life. Some of the things you are doing right now might need to be changed in a way to let love integrate them deeper into your life. Other areas, God might lovingly show you how a new habit will help you see His love more completely.

Either way, let God's love be what makes what you do have the power God wants it to have in your life. Don't do for doing sake. Do because He loves you. Then watch as your doing changes your live in ways that make victor living more of a possibility in your life today.