HABITS August 14, 2025 By: Donna Chisholm Schoening My husband drove our truck to work today, leaving the car home. I usually drive the van but decided to take the car on my errands. While driving to the store, I realized that I was reaching for the controls in the car in the same place they are in the van. I came out of the store, having finished my shopping, and found myself looking for my van. I even thought, “Oh it must be one spot over where the view is obstructed by that vehicle”. This was all done out of habit! Thankfully, the van was still at home where I had parked it. My husband and I went out to eat last week. He started driving in a direction not in proximity of where we were going. I made an inquiry as to where he was going. He simply stated he wasn’t thinking and was driving to work, out of habit. I’m sure many of us have done this before. Meriam Webster has the following as two of the meanings for “habit” 1. a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior 2. an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary. People establish many habits in their life without even intending to do so, some good and some bad. Hopefully, the habit of brushing our teeth in the morning and before bed is a good habit we have established. Exercising or eating healthy can become good habits. Many of us know people who have bad habits. According to neuroscienceschool.com there is a myth that a habit is established in twenty-one days. However, it can take as little as four days or as many as 335 days, depending on the “habit” and the person. Forming health related habits took between fifty-nine and sixty-six days. So, it is not “one and done”. Studying the Gospels will yield insights to some of the habits that Jesus had and thus we should also have. We will look at a few. As disciples of Jesus Christ there are habits that we should have, according to the Word of God. Remember making something a habit doesn’t decrease its importance or significance in our life. Stop making a habit out of brushing your teeth and you will quickly see quite the contrary at your next dental appointment. Given that Jesus, God in the flesh, made it a habit to pray we also need to make it a habit to pray. The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Obviously, we can not pray every moment of every day but prayer needs to be a regular event in our life. We are commanded to pray about everything, making it a habit. It needs to be our default not an afterthought. Luke 5:16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing, Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; While the Bible was obviously not completely written in Jesus' time, we know He made it a habit of reading and studying the Scripture. Luke tells us that He stood up and read the scroll. When He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, for each of the temptations Jesus said, “It is written”. Jesus was able to recall and use what He had learned and studied during temptation. Luke 4:17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
Matthew 4:7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” (Side note, if I may… something that just came to me that I never remember considering or noticing before, Jesus did NOT tell the devil what He thought, He did not carry on a conversation with the devil. He simply stuck to the facts- the Word of God). We are commanded to read and study the Word of God, making it a habit. The more this is a habit in our lives, the better we will know it to stand up against the wiles of the devil and the more it can cause us to be more like Jesus because there is power in the Word of God. Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Psalm 119:165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble. 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Jesus also had the habit of going to the synagogue. He was only a pre-teen when He was found listening to the religious teachers in the temple. Luken 4 tells us that He went into the synagogue as He was accustomed to doing, making it a habit. Luke 2:42, 46 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. We are commanded to make it a habit to go to God’s house, like Christ did. I have heard it said as Christians going to church should not be a weekly decision rather a one-time decision when we accept Christ as our Saviour unless there are extenuating circumstances. As believers in Christ, we need our church family. One of the double-edged things resulting from Covid is “on-line church”. It is great for those who are home-bound and unable to attend. However, it may be a detriment to those who use it as an option of going to church. Heaven will not have an on-line or zoom section. Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Jesus made it a habit of doing good. A quick read through any of the Gospels and you will quickly see that Jesus went about doing good. He consistently exhibited character traits and behaviors of someone in the habit of doing good. He healed people, had compassion on people, fed people, taught people, raised people from the dead, and ministered to people. Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We as children of God are commanded to make it a habit to do good. We are commanded to do good to our enemies and expect nothing in return because that is how God is, kind to the unthankful and evil. We are commanded to do good to the family of God. If we thought of doing good for each other more than being in competition, I wonder how different the church and world would be. Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. The hardest of all the habits of Jesus for us to have is forgiveness. They had just finished scourging, torturing, mocking and spitting on Jesus in a mock trial prior to hanging Him on the tree and Jesus said, “Father, forgive them…”. Jesus had already forgiven a paralytic on a stretcher. Jesus didn’t condemn the woman caught in adultery, which is to say He forgave her. Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. When it comes to forgiving people, we often want to put a prerequisite on that forgiveness. We require the person to ask for forgiveness, change, or show some level of remorse. The people Jesus forgave while He was on the cross were still making fun of Him when He forgave them. The paralytic man was brought to be healed, not forgiven. The woman caught in adultery had not asked to be forgiven. Like Jesus we need to make a habit of forgiving people whether they deserve it or have earned it or not. Jesus told Peter to forgive someone seventy times seven, that’s a habit! Matthew 18:21-22 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. My prayer is that my habits will mirror the habits of Jesus and I, with His help, will eradicate bad habits from my life.
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