Habits Sow Ingrained

How does real, lasting change happen? From self-help gurus to celebrity preachers to psychologists and behavioral scientists, everyone seems to have a solution. However, the short answer is that lasting change happens one decision and habit at a time by the grace and power of God.

The human heart is a battlefield of divided allegiances and conflicting affections, each vying to be lord of our next choice. Each moment essentially confronts us: “Choose this day whom you will serve” (Josh. 24:15). In other words, we can choose to indulge or deny, cultivating a lifestyle of unrighteousness or of righteousness.

A habit is a pattern of doing, being, or thinking acquired by intentional or unintentional repetition. If we entertain a recurring thought, for example, it becomes habitual and according to research part of the 40% that we do every day without thinking. Of course, not all habits are sinful—some serve us well—but all habits are powerful. We form our habits, and habits form us.

There are numerous reasons for the power of a habit, one of which is consistency. Our repetitive actions, like hikers forging a trail, have formed what in our brains are beaten paths. We know them, and they require little of us.

Another reason habits wield such power may be because we believe the activities, choices, thoughts, and behaviors that constitute them are isolated incidents. “It’s just one time,” we think, “or one more time.” We are utterly deceived and wooed by this fleeting pleasure that we deserve it, that we’ll abstain next time, that one more won’t hurt, or that consequences don’t apply.

A final reason could be that continuing the habit is easier than challenging it, and we as weak, fallen creatures prefer the path of least resistance. So long as we swim with the current, we are blind to it; yet like the salmon swimming upstream, once we dare to question the strength of the one who has become our master, we feel the weight of his rule. This explains why we do not experience the true power of a habit until we endeavor to break it. What began as a guilty pleasure or an innocent attempt to cope with pain, loss, anger, or trauma has become a destructive pattern that will break us.

Healthy habits do not develop by accident. Cultivating godly habits is analogous to building a defense, adjusting your binoculars to gain a clearer perspective, and sharpening your sword for the day of temptation. None of these happen by chance. Just as sickness is caught and not health, so we often catch and develop bad habits more easily than good ones. The book of Proverbs offers a helpful case study in discipline, a lack thereof we observe leads inevitably to destruction. The man who finds himself seduced by the adulteress in Proverbs 7 begins by strolling “near” her corner and “passing along” in the direction of her house. In the end, his aimlessness proves to be his downfall.

Habits promoting holiness are required as bulwarks against the impulses and inclinations of human nature that, left unchecked, will prove fatal. Galatians 6:7 makes clear that God cannot be mocked; a man reaps what he sows. In other words, there are consequences to our choices (i.e., our habits). We deceive ourselves if we continue in a less than righteous path and believe it will not affect us. If we are spared from the natural consequences of our decisions, that’s called grace, not permission to go and do likewise.

Paul expands on this principle by listing two ways in which we sow: “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Few habits are neutral; they will either prepare and preserve us or plague and pervert us. Here, Paul issues both a warning and a message of hope. Sowing to please the flesh and choosing that which serves and feeds the enemy within, though it may offer momentary relief, will prove in the end deceptive and destructive. On the contrary, sowing to please the Spirit and choosing that which honors God leads to life and rest.

We are all constantly strengthening our habits or starving them. We are always sowing something. Do our words, decisions, actions, manners, and countenance cultivate peace, or are we reaping the rotten fruit of envy, idleness, selfishness, slander, gossip, and pride? These habits infect our relationships and rob us of our peace, and because they cannot help but consume us, they rob God of the attention and worship He deserves. Some fruit may be a long time in coming, but we are always sowing and reaping.

What are you sowing?

You may be asking, “What if I have sown seed I regret?” Begin sowing new seed! We serve a God who has the power to restore the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25). The land may be weary, but each day can be the first day of a new past and a new history. Each year is a season to begin sowing anew, to care for a new crop, to not become weary in doing good (Gal. 6:9), and at the proper time to reap an abundant harvest.

The practical note is coming.