We work hard to create habits, especially the good ones. But they can also be binding. We are conscious of keeping them and conscious of when we don't keep them. Sometimes we become slaves of sorts to them. Especially those of us that tend towards being perfectionists. That's when good habits become bondage. We may use our diligence to keep a good habit as a source of pride or we may use our failures to follow through with good habits as a platform to criticize ourselves or even others when we see them fail at good habits they had once established.
I was challenged by some thoughts about habits by Oswald Chambers this morning in My Utmost for His Highest. "Your god may be your little Christian habit." Has our time of prayer or Bible reading become merely a habit, or is it an extension of our very being. If we are simply performing because we are committed to a habit then this is an opportunity for invest in the relationship so that we are living the relationship rather than just performing the relationship.
When we return home at the end of the day, is it only because it it a habit? No. It is because that is where we live. It is our comfort zone. It is where we can be ourselves. It is where we can let down. We can express how we feel, our hopes, our disappoints, our dreams. We can just be quiet if we want to. We don't need to put on or perform for anyone. Are we at home with God, our heavenly Father, or are we just going there because it is a habit?
Is there any where or any situation that we are not a home with God? That should be a call to our attention that it is an area that needs to be drawn into that relationship most important to us. We must press in to Him. He will draw all of our loose ends into Him. "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness... so that we might participate in His divine nature." (2 Peter 1:3,4) The more we participate in Him, the more at home we are with Him anywhere and in anything. Let this be our driving passion. To know Him and the power of His resurrection (Philippians 3:10) in our lives.
