Habits

January 5, 2024

We are creatures of habit. How many of us make New Years Resolutions that we’ll break by February? Here’s one I’ll bet every one of us has already broken: When we write down a date, we’ll remember that it’s 2024, not 2023. Guilty as charged! It’s only the fifth of January and in my nightly musings I’ve written the wrong date four times. The only one I initially got right was New Years Day.

Old habits are hard to break. God has been working on me for nine months about making Jesus my default…where my mind lands when it doesn’t have to be occupied by something else. I have to admit, my first inclination is to grab my phone. It’s probably a different issue for you, but whatever it is, it’s hard to really put Jesus first. Our flesh, ie. our natural inclination isn’t for Jesus. The world around us isn’t encouraging us to turn to Jesus, and of course, the devil doesn’t want us to go there. The only encouragement, the only nudging we get is from the Holy Spirit, which is why we need him so much. 

Certain branches of Christianity talk a lot about the Holy Spirit. Not always, but often, the conversation centers on the gifts of the Spirit, particularly, speaking in tongues, miracles, healings, and so forth. All these are good, but I think the real evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit is a longing deep within us to be close to Jesus, and to live as he lived, serving others without worrying about how others serve us.

I’m not making any resolutions this year, except to do everything I can to prepare my heart to seek God, and to follow through on my commitment to explore mentoring young men. How much the latter will pan out, I don’t know, but I do know of the need, and cannot claim to faithfully be following Jesus if I ignore the opportunities he drops in my lap, like he has this one. So rather than making a resolution I’m likely to break, I’m going to put myself in the middle of the road I think God is traveling, so he either has to pick me up and carry me to his destination, or run me over on his way.