Want To Overcome A Bad Habit?
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin ArticlesA bad habit is difficult to overcome. For example, if we take off the first letter of the word habit, notice that it does not change “a bit.” If we take off another letter, the only word then left is “bit.” If we take off still another letter, the whole of “it” remains.
However, if we take off another letter, the “it” is destroyed. This little illustration shows us that if we want to get rid of a bad habit, we must throw it off altogether, replacing it with a good habit.
For example, if we have the bad habit of smoking, let’s replace that habit with prayer and the reading of the Scriptures (Ephesians 3:11-16; Colossians 1:9-13; Ephesians 3:4; 1 Timothy 4:13). We can carry a small Bible or New Testament with us (see bookstore) and every time we get an urge to smoke, we can say a short prayer, asking God to help us overcome our smoking habit, then read the Scriptures for strength and for reprogramming our thinking processes [mind] (2 Corinthians 10:4-5; Ephesians 3:16; Philippians 4:6-8,13; Colossians 3:1-10).
The longer we maintain the above activity in our everyday lifestyle, we’ll soon find that the once bad habit begins to fade away, no longer having the strong influence over us it once had (Romans 6:11-19). Pretty soon, that bad habit will leave us completely, replaced by the good habit of prayer, daily Bible reading, and study (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).
May the Lord help us all to get rid of any bad habits we may have in our life, replacing them with good habits, resulting in godly lifestyles (1 Timothy 4:7-8; Titus 2:10-13).