Habits

Introduction

By Paul Anderson

I am a creature of habit.  I love being in a rut.  There are less decisions to make and less chances for making the wrong decision.  However, it is better if the rut is filled with good habits.  My son told me about a phone application that you can use to track your habits.  I have been using it for a couple of months now.  I have realized the power of replacing the bad habits with good habits.  From drinking more water, to getting more steps, to tracking my calories every day, the good habits I created for health helped me lose 117 pounds.

Prior to the weight loss, the main habit I had was the brown robe I wore at the Colorado Renaissance Festival as a chess-playing monk.

Habit:  a long, loose garment worn by a member of a religious order or congregation.

It is hard to say whether that habit was good or bad, but after years of use, my mom thought it was time for it to be replaced.  Since 1998, the brown robe had slowly faded to gray with 121 days and close to 1,000 hours in the sun.  She picked out 3 new, dark brown robes to encourage me to get rid of the old habit.

Perhaps it was just coincidence, but the change in clothing habit mirrored the change in eating habits.  Not only was I a monk in new apparel, but also I was a monk in a new body.  The transformation was documented by the before and after photos on my employee id.

Before - Fat Monk

After - Thin Monk

Now, I am trying to create the good habits to make me more productive.  So, I thought I would take some time to study out what good habits will benefit me the most.

Here are my top 12 verses on Habits:

Jesus On Habits

Matthew 12:33 King James Version

33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

Matthew 12:43-45 King James Version

43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.

44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Luke 9:23 King James Version

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 16:19 New American Standard Bible 1995

19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.

Habits In The New Testament

1 Timothy 5:13 New International Version

13 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to.

Romans 7:19 New American Standard Bible 1995

19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

Philippians 2:14 King James Version

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

Hebrews 10:23-25 New American Standard Bible 1995

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Habits In The Old Testament

Exodus 21:29 New American Standard Bible 1995

29 If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.

Judges 2:19 King James Version

19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

Proverbs 22:6 King James Version

6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Jeremiah 13:23 King James Version

23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

Conclusion Of The Whole Matter

The Bible focuses on the negative aspect of habits.  From being idle to giving up on meeting together, from goring people to falling back into idol worship, it seems like the authors only mention the bad habits and how hard it is not to fall back into them.  Even when you want to do good, you practice the very evil that you do not want to do.

However, the Bible is not alone.  Other authors have realized that negative habits are hard to replace.  In his book, The Power Of Habit, Charles Duhigg describes the habit loop.  This subconscious process involves three main components:  Cue, Routine, and Reward.

The cue is the trigger to start the habit, the routine is the actual behavior, and the reward is the satisfaction that makes you return to the behavior again and again.

Duhigg admits that replacing a bad habit may not be as easy to do as it is to say.  However, he highlights an example from Tony Dungy, NFL Hall of Fame Coach.  Dungy had a system of keeping most of the habit loop but just replacing the Routine.  The Cue and Reward could stay the same as long as the Routine was good.

I could relate to this trick.  When I first decided to improve my health at 295 pounds, I had a habit of going to Taco Bell's happy hour.  They offered a dollar burrito and a dollar slushy.  The cue was my hunger and the reward was tasty food at a cheap price.  Unfortunately, a routine of drinking sugar covered in syrup triggered an attack of gout.

After a week of not being able to walk or even pull a shoe over my big toe, I was motivated to change the routine.  Goodbye slushy.  Hello water.  I now have a goal to get 90 ounces of water every day, and the bonus was that water was even more of a reward to my frugal nature.

The main reason that habits are hard to change is because they are designed to be done without thinking.  Habits are the brain's way of taking a break.  You can conserve a lot of mental energy if you don't have to think about every decision for daily living.  Therefore, your will is given over to other influences.

One of those influences, according to Duhigg, is cravings.  I used to underestimate the power of cravings when I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.  Now, I have a scheduled diet plan to create a good routine.  However, I notice that I think about some foods more now that I can't have them often.  When I drive by a restaurant and see the logo, I think of the foods I used to enjoy there and how I never could make it home with a large, McDonalds fries intact.  When I watch TV and see a commercial, I want my favorite item on the menu and say, "Oh, my, a M&M Blizzard looks so good!"

But there is hope.

I see a connection between the power of spirits and habits.  If I can exercise my spirit of self-denial, the cravings go away.  Just like in Matthew 12:43-45, when you recognize a bad routine, it is not enough to eliminate it.  You have to replace it with a good routine.  Otherwise, you will fall back into the routine and be worse off than before.

Even Duhigg mentioned the power of belief in changing habits.  His example came from the most successful behavior modification group, Alcoholics Anonymous.  He mentioned that the founder, who had no medical or scientific background, decided on 12 steps due to the fact that there are 12 Apostles and that 7 of the steps require spirituality.

Belief will carry you through the difficult parts of replacing a bad habit.  A leopard does not change his spots overnight.  It takes practice.  According to Hebrews 5:13-14, it takes practice to even discern good from evil.

But if you believe you can make the tree good, then the fruit will be good.

Habit was a hard word for which to search on BibleGateway.  It came back with 78 occurrences.  However, I noticed most of them were due to the fact that the word "habit" appears in the word "habitation."  Since habitation returned 77 results, I was determined to find the one occurrence of habit.  Well, I didn't think that the word "habitable" would show up one time in Proverbs 8:31.

So, I had to break from my habit of using just the King James Version to get some verses with the word "habit" in them.

78 Bible results for “habit” from King James Version.

77 Bible results for “habitation” from King James Version.

1 Bible results for “habitable” from King James Version.

26 Bible results for “custom” from King James Version.

13 results for “habit” from previous Solomon's Colonnade studies.

Hill of Ares - Acts 17:18-19

My son sent me a video about the habits of Stoics.  Working on this study got me motivated to finally watch the clip.  I think I am turning into a stoic.  I am now trying to journal (or work on my blogs) every day.  I get physical exercise every day.  Food has become fuel (although not completely).  Also, I decided to change habits on the blog and start with a clean slate each month, which came from the video.

Scripture contributions for August 2022 by: Paul Anderson, Matthew Anderson