Three weeks ago, we began a series on “Choices” and introduced the concept below:

• Your desires drive your thoughts.
• Your thoughts direct your actions
• Your actions become your habits.
• Your actions mold your character.
• Your character shapes your destiny.

If you have not already, I encourage you to go back and to read the three prior Chaplain’s Corners on Choices. Last week we touched on actions and how to conform our actions to our new heart and godly thoughts? Today we build on that theme to learn how to turn actions into habits.

Why are habits important? Habits are helpful tools. We form a habit through repetition, and when we repeat an action often enough, then it becomes encoded into our brain. The thing about habits, which is a positive and a negative, is that habits can be changed. This is a positive if you are trying to change a bad habit, but a negative if you are trying to maintain a good habit. A good example of this is going to church. As a life-long church goer, I had a good habit of going to church. My week was just not the same without being with my church family and my opportunity to worship and hear some good preaching. Since the pandemic, our attendance has been very spotty and while we always listen online, it is just not quite the same. And that habit of going to church is now broken. I do believe I will resume as soon as possible, but I cannot be sure about that until the conditions improve. Meanwhile, I am doing everything I can to be sure that my desire is for worship, that my thoughts and prayers are for my church family, and that I attend Sunday worship online. In that way I am hoping to feed the good habit when we can resume physical church attendance.

The really important concept to remember is something that Vince Lombardi once said: “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” We need to be sure we are taking the right actions before we try to build them in to habits. And to ensure we are taking the right actions, we must first work on our desires and our thoughts.

For perfect habit formation, I like to use the analogy of learning a new skill, whether it be playing an instrument or excelling at a sport. The word that comes to mind is “practice.” If you think about practice in this context, you can see that it includes instruction in the action, performing the action, evaluating your progress, doing it again. Perfect practice; perfected habit.

Here are some practical ideas:

1. Each morning pray to God to direct your actions. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
2. Be intentional about learning from others, modeling godly behavior. This speaks to the importance of seeking the company of godly people. The Bible is very clear about this.
   1. “The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray” (Proverbs 12:26).
   1. “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (Proverbs 27:17).
   1. “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble” (Proverbs 13:20).
3. Constantly think about your actions and your choices about your actions. This might be a choice about what you say or what you do in any given situation. This is especially important if you are going into a challenging situation, or one that you know might have some temptations. Remember that even Jesus was tempted. And he overcame that temptation through the power of the Holy Spirit and by using the Word of God as his weapon. “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).
4. It helps to remember your motivation for your words and actions. “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of the Lord” (1 Cor 10:31). 
5. Periodically through the day, reflect on your words and actions from the past hour, during that last meeting or interaction, etc. Repent when needed; ask forgiveness when needed, thank God for his guidance when you know you have done well. “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

In Christ,

Judy