Building Life Habits - Good & Bad Ones

How do habits form in your life? How does a bad habit begin to get a foothold? And how does someone go from developing bad habits to building good ones, eventually becoming a different person?

I want to share a story from Ezekiel 23. It’s rather graphic, even disturbing. God describes Samaria and Jerusalem as two prostitutes. They represent the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel, God’s chosen people. Listen to some of the language God uses.

Speaking of Samaria, God says, “Oholah was unfaithful to me while she was still mine.” (Ezekiel 23:5 NCV) At first, the people were God’s. Then God describes Jerusalem as even worse. In Ezekiel 23:20, God describes her lust for men using the shocking imagery of donkeys’ genitals and horses’ sexual emissions. In verse 21, He recalls her earlier sexual immorality, including men fondling her breasts.

Maybe you didn’t know this kind of stuff was in the Bible.

God wasn’t primarily talking about sexual prostitution. He was describing spiritual unfaithfulness in those terms. His people had gradually abandoned Him, worshiped idols, and placed their trust in foreign nations and horrible habits. Jerusalem even watched Samaria suffer the consequences of her choices, yet continued down the same destructive road.

So how did they - do you and I - get there? One bad decision after another. And that’s often how we develop habits.

You’ve probably heard the story about putting a frog in a beaker of water and slowly turning up the heat. Supposedly, the frog doesn’t notice the gradual temperature change and eventually boils to death. Now, that’s not scientifically accurate, but the illustration makes a good point. Sometimes we become so accustomed to something harmful or wasteful that we stop recognizing the danger. It becomes a habit - a lifestyle.

Think about your own life. We pick up our phones and scroll through social media, watching one worthless video after another. Thirty minutes later, what have we accomplished? We watch things we shouldn’t watch, entertain thoughts we shouldn’t entertain, spend money we don’t need to spend, or say things we shouldn’t say. And we justify it. It’s just a little entertainment. What’s the harm?

The psalmist prayed, “Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.” (Psalm 119:37 NIV)

Habits form through repetition. A thought becomes a choice. A choice becomes a behavior. Repeated behavior becomes a habit. And eventually, our habits help shape the person we become. We all are becoming someone.

But here’s the good news. The same principle works with good habits!

You begin reading your Bible each morning. Change the music you listen to. You start praying before making decisions. You exercise, eat healthier, become more generous, forgive, or learn to control your tongue. At first, these choices require discipline. But through repetition, they become more natural. They become a new way of living.

And how do we break bad habits? First, recognize them. Stop justifying them. Identify what triggers them, remove the temptation, and replace the bad behavior with something good. Don’t just decide what you’re going to stop doing. Decide what you’re going to start doing. This is key.

But allow me to go one step deeper. Changing habits isn’t the same as changing your heart. We need a new way of thinking - we need to become a new person from the inside out. We need God’s help with both. Paul wrote, “If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NCV)

Becoming a new person begins with Christ. I know, it sounds religious. But Christ changes “everything” - every time. Then, as we surrender to Him, our daily choices should increasingly reflect the person He is making us. God commands are good and good for us.

So here’s my question. What habits are you developing today that will determine who you become tomorrow? Are there things you’ve slowly allowed into your life that are taking you further from God? Or are you intentionally building habits that draw you closer to Him?

Remember, **it’s one little decision here and another there. And before you know it, good or bad, there you are. **

LORD, help me recognize the habits in my life that are not pleasing to You. Give me the wisdom to recognize them, the discipline to change them, and the desire to replace them with habits that honor You. Change not only what I do, but who I am becoming. IJNIP amen ♥️

(When’s the last time you visited relatives at the cemetery? Wendy at my grand-parents)