How to Defeat Harmful Habits (Counseling Through the Bible Series) (5 page)

•
Habits can be beneficial
and profitable.

“Blessed are those who keep my ways”

(P
ROVERBS
8:32).

•
Habits can be evil
and destructive.

“They get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to”

(1 T
IMOTHY
5:13).

•
Habits can be passed down
from generation to generation.

“The L
ORD
was with Jehoshaphat because in his early years he walked in the ways his father David had followed”

(2 C
HRONICLES
17:3).

•
Habits can reflect devotion
to God and God’s character.

“His heart was devoted to the ways of the L
ORD
; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah”

(2 C
HRONICLES
17:6).

•
Habits can increase consistency
and strengthen character.

“The righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger”

(J
OB
17:9).

•
Habits are a choice
, a function of the will, but they can also be influenced by the emotions.

“What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways”

(J
OB
22:28).

•
Habits can lead hearts astray
and hurt the cause of Christ.

“Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute”

(2 P
ETER
2:2).

•
Habits can be overcome through Christ.

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one [Jesus] who is in you is greater than the one [Satan] who is in the world”

(1 J
OHN
4:4).

•
Habits can be a positive witness to others.

“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”

(M
ATTHEW
5:16).

Although Magnar Solberg’s practice of standing in an anthill while shooting initially appeared to be a
destructive
habit, it ultimately proved to be a
constructive
habit. At the Grenoble Olympics, the Norwegian hit all 20 targets in his event and his stringent training habits paid off with a gold medal. He competed again four years later at the Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, and at age 35, won another gold medal.

Solberg made a place for himself in the record books as the only Olympic biathlete to defend and keep his title in an individual event. And he’s the oldest athlete to win a gold medal in an individual event at the winter Olympics.
¹⁴

Typically, those who train and exercise regularly receive compliments and admiration. But what about those who overtrain, overexercise? What about those struggling with anorexia athletica or those who are obsessed with their body shape? Their training has gone from being a positive productive habit to a compulsive addiction. They are controlled not by God, but by their addiction. The Bible says, “Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).

And what about you? Is it possible that you have developed an addiction in some area? If you suspect so, ask yourself these six questions:

“Have I stopped the habit in the past, only to consistently relapse?”

“Have I become abnormally preoccupied with the habit?”

“Have I continued the habit in spite of suffering negative consequences?”

“Have I engaged in the habit more and more often over time in order to achieve the same mood-altering experience I had in the beginning?”

“Have I practiced this habit primarily because it changes my mood or comforts me?”

“Have I persisted in this habit even though it is harmful to me?”

If the answer to any one of these questions is
yes
, you are on the way to forming an addiction. If the answer to all of them is
yes
, you are already wrapped up in the web of addiction and are powerless to free yourself. Your only recourse is to seek help in order to regain control of your life. When you do so, you can walk in the freedom Christ died to provide for you.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly”

(R
OMANS
5:6).

“Lazy”…complacent…settle for mediocrity…“last guy in the building [for practic, team meetings, and games]…first guy out.”
¹⁵

You’d hardly expect an athlete with these self-described habits to succeed in a game of flag football, much less catapult to the pinnacle of the National Football League. But Michael Vick’s career has been full of sad surprises.

Endowed with spectacular innate athleticism, Vick discovered as a boy—playing pick-up football in the gang-infested housing projects of Newport News, Virginia—that athletic achievement came easy for him. Sadly, so did a later life of habitual bad choices, moral shortcuts, and eventually, serious crime.

But the shocking truth about Vick’s character was carefully concealed from his fans. During his ensuing glory years, the NFL’s number one draft pick in 2001 earned a reputation as the most electrifying player in professional sports. And he became one of the highest paid, with a record $130 million contract.
¹⁶
As quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, Vick led his team to the playoffs twice, ranking second among quarterbacks of all time in career rushing yards.
¹⁷

Vick’s meteoric rise to stardom led him to believe he could live life on his own terms—immune from the baggage of bad habits and destructive choices, and unwilling to embrace the biblical instruction to

“be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil”

(E
PHESIANS
5:15-16).