Habits and Disciplines

I’m reading an interesting book called Atomic Habits. The author has discovered that persistence in small changes is like compound interest. This method makes curves on progress charts go from zero to success in a steeper curve than could be imagined.

I learned that riding an exercise bike. I put a few miles on it each day. Over three years, that turned into several thousand miles and a great improvement of stamina.

This book also says that focusing on a goal is often defeating; a person needs to focus on the process or the steps needed to reach goals. He also says the best way to do that is thinking about your identity, who you are in relation to the person you want to become. For instance, saying “I can run a marathon” works far better toward that goal than “I want to run a marathon.”

This is interesting to me because of the relationship to spiritual growth as described in the Bible and by my experience. The goal is to be a godly person; God says I already am a godly person. I just need to learn how to act like it. The process is spiritual disciplines fueled and blessed by the grace of God.

The goal is to be like Jesus; the identity is that Jesus already lives in me. I’ve compared this to a soldier. When enlisting, that person is a soldier, yet it takes bootcamp and training to learn how to act like one.

This morning’s passage of Scripture is about a goal: to live in the Spirit and not in the flesh . . .

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:16–24)

How does it happen? A new Christian is called a “new creation” in 2 Corinthians 5:17, but it isn’t long before that old fleshy nature tries to spoil that by pulling us back into old habits. I learned the hard way that the process is like baby steps, tiny moves in the direction God calls me. Also, I need to avoid those slippery slope steps toward gratifying the desires of the flesh. Again, I am declared righteous in Christ; I must learn how to be what I am.

Reading the passage struck me with the contrast of its two descriptions. It seems that the flesh would be easy to recognize by the extreme bad behavior listed as examples. However, sin is more subtle. Jesus said sexual immorality includes looking at someone with lust in your heart (Matthew 5:27-28). Impurity can be mixed motives for doing good, such as pleasing God but also impressing others. Sensuality is usually about sexual misconduct, but it can include excessive indulgence involving pleasure of other kinds.

The list goes on, covering the extremes that Corinthian Christians fought against, yet are not obsolete. We still need to deny the sins of the flesh that lurk in our hearts, such as envy and division. God wants my life to be controlled by His Spirit, not my flesh. Doing this is about habit-forming, but the big difference between that book and the Bible is the power of the Holy Spirit at work instead of me needing to do this by myself, under my own steam and determination. As Jesus says, apart from Him, I can do nothing. God is not advocating self-effort for that is of the flesh also, even the very essence of sin.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Wow, Lord! You have given me much to think about and act on. First, how much of my life and habits need change because they are not being motivated and fueled by You? Second, how many of my “systems” to reach goals are self-effort? And what can I rejoice in because I know You are at work? I’m glad for this list of spiritual fruit in Galatians for it is the best way to test who is running my life. If love, peace, joy, etc. are missing, then I have some confessing and repenting to do.

Today’s thankful list . . .

The guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Phone call from a friend not heard from for a long time!

The postal system.

Clear, helpful people at my bank.

A wacky quilt that just might turn out okay.

A bit of a dent in a pile of paper.

Never a dull moment!

Feeding the right nature . . .

Chinese Christian Watchman Nee described the Christian experience of flesh vs. spirit as like having two dogs fighting inside of him. When asked which one was winning, he replied, “The one that I feed the most.”

Christian people ought to avoid certain activities when we know they will feed the wrong dog. Sometimes this is easy to figure out. If I had been an alcoholic (I wasn’t’) I would avoid bars and liquor cabinets. If I had once idolized particular sports or certain people, I would stay away, at least until that was no longer a problem, or in other words, until those activities stopped feeding that dog.

Another person described sin and temptation like having a wolf on a tether. It was always there, but stay beyond the length of the tether and for goodness’ sake, don’t pet the wolf!

Paul wrote about the battle of trying to do the will of God and how our sinful nature resists that. He knew that sin has been defeated by faith in Christ, but he also knew that it stubbornly does not go away and leave us alone. (Read these verses slowly!) . . .

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:14–25)

I can especially echo the middle part of this passage: I also desire to do what is right, but in myself have no ability to carry it out. I cannot do the good I want to, but find sin very easy to do. Yet the Bible says that by faith in God I have been made a new creature. So if I am a new creature, why then am I plagued by that old sinful nature? Paul says, “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

In the beginning, it was easy to see those areas of “feeding the wrong dog” and turn away from them. However, as time goes by, the Holy Spirit reveals to me how easily I can toss a few crumbs that way and often not realize it, but always wind up in trouble. Sin is like standing on that proverbial slippery slope. Just desiring to go that direction puts me at the top of the slope and if I don’t cry out to Jesus, I’m certain to slide into trouble. To use the wolf metaphor, I cannot pet the beast without getting bitten.

It seems to me that when the Bible talks about maturity such as the way God spoke of Job, it may include the ability to ‘feed the right dog’ but perfection isn’t the same as being sinless . . .

“And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?’” (Job 1:8)

Job hated evil, but his story reveals he was not sinless (no one is). He experienced calamity after calamity and did not curse God, but he also said that had he sinned to deserve all this, he would have known it. In other words, this man was in touch with his own spiritual life. If he fed the wrong dog and fell into sin, he knew it, but he also knew what to do about it. This is the secret of being mature. It is summed up in one short New Testament verse:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

******************

Jesus, until my sin nature is eradicated, the possibility and danger of sin remains. Yet You are faithful in teaching me how to do battle. Every day I’m becoming more aware of Your power and protection, but also how to wear spiritual armor and fight evil distractions. Some days, particularly when I am tired or experience set-backs and disappointments, that wrong dog begs to be fed, as if petting it will put him away from me. But that is not true. My only defense is clear in James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Bless me today with the Spirit of submission to You so I am feeding that new nature that You gave me.