How to Defeat Harmful Habits (Counseling Through the Bible Series) (9 page)

“I don’t have what it takes to overcome this habit.”

“It’s unfair that I have to deny myself the enjoyment of this activity.”

“My desires are too strong for me to ever deny them.”

“I can’t stand going without the pleasure this habit gives me.”

“I’m not worth all this trouble, effort, and pain anyway, so why try to change?”

“God knows I am too weak to overcome this habit.”

“I’m just a loser anyway.”

“God won’t help someone like me.”

“I’ve been doing this far too long to try to change now.”

“This has just become a part of who I am.”

Self-defeating habits will continue to keep you in bondage if you fail to change your faulty thinking:

“Stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults”

(1 C
ORINTHIANS
14:20).

Steroids seemingly surrounded Marion Jones.
Everybody else seemed to be doing it…

Marion’s ex-husband, C.J. Hunter, was busted for using performance-enhancing drugs. Tim Montgomery, the father of her son, was stripped of his world record in the 100 meters. But she ultimately realized that there were no excuses to be made. “I am responsible fully for my actions. I have no one to blame but myself for what I’ve done.”
³⁵
Her words reflect what is said in God’s Word:

“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”

(H
EBREWS
12:1-2).

Just as behavior comes from beliefs, so do the excuses we make to justify our behavior, habits, and addictions. It logically follows that the lies we believe also generate the excuses we give for not breaking bad behaviors.

W
HAT
E
XCUSES
A
RE
Y
OU
G
IVING
?

“This makes me feel better; and besides, I deserve it.”

“A lot of people do this; after all, no one is perfect.”