HABITS

063 – NOVEMBER 2008

HABITS

Question : If you had 2 plants, and fed only one of them, what would happen?
Answer: One would grow. One would shrivel – and eventually die.

Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

I find myself in this human predicament of not being able to do the things that I should be (or want to be) doing. As I prepare to fall asleep each night, I think about some of the bad daily habits that I have. I determine “Tomorrow – I am going to start new habits to get in better shape, to find a way to add more exercise to my schedule and to stop all the unnecessary snacking after 7:00 P.M.”
Morning arrives. The day moves on. The bad habits follow. You tighten up on your evening resolution and become more determined for the next day - only to come up short and fumble again. And, on and on and on - and on!
In a like manner, you leave church all pumped up to begin a good habit or to end an old one – only to have forgotten the whole thing just after lunch.
Think about it! Think about how pitiful it is!! I can’t seem to do the things that I want (need) to do and, I can’t seem to not do the things that I don’t want (need) to do. Whether it is deciding “No” to a trivial indulgence or a weighty and disturbing sin, it is not easy to follow through with our decisions.

Paul verbalized this struggle with the old nature in his letter to the church at Rome:
Romans 7:15 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do, I do.
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

Although this struggle is commonplace, it does not mean that we should succumb to it’s outcome. We have a choice to feed the one and not the other. We can choose to be weak, give in to the bad habit or the bad sin , and feed the monster flesh. Or, we can choose self-control, rise above the fray, and feed the spirit. With either choice, one will grow and the other will shrivel – and eventually die. It would be astounding (miracle?) to watch your struggle droop - and die.

Romans 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me …?”

Paul gives us additional help at the end of Romans 7. Read the whole chapter and feed the spirit.