Have you ever tried to overcome bad habits but sadly fail to succeed? Like, no matter what you do to change your wrong or shameful habits and try doing different things to replace them, you just can't do it?
Maybe it's time for a new approach. Maybe it's time you go to the root of the issue – your heart.
The Core of the Issue
Solomon warned us in Proverbs 4:23 with a very stern (but often taken for granted) admonition, saying:
"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." (NLT)
Many of us fail to guard our hearts, ending up surprised if not shocked at what we can actually do. A little compromise of standard here, a little allowance for sin or unholiness there, and we end up growing the seed of unrighteousness inside our hearts.
Sadly, many of us think that what we have been taking care of inside us – the sinful thoughts we enjoy, the wrong desires we have, the unrighteous longings we cherish – is "just fine," if not allowable, because "we're only human."
No, my dear friends, a little sin corrupts us, like how a little leaven leavens the whole dough.
Take the Battle to the Battleground
Since the time of the fall, it has been Satan's ploy to implant doubt in our hearts toward God in one way or another, in the hopes of making us desire the wrong things. He made the forbidden fruit "desirable" in Eve's eyes, and succeeded. He tempted Samson by the allure of a woman. He tempted David using a woman's naked body. He tempted Judas with 30 pieces of silver.
In the same way, Satan wants to derail you from letting go of your sins and bad habits by letting you see how comfortable and pleasurable it is to just keep doing them, even if your conscience is already hitting you hard like a sledgehammer hits an egg. He keeps tempting you, and makes you think that you'll "miss out on these pleasures" if you stop and "live a boring and tasteless life of holiness."
All of these temptations that Satan gives, friends, aren't just his to throw at us without reason. In fact, we're being tempted because we want these temptations. James 1:13-15 tells us,
"...when you are being tempted, do not say, 'God is tempting me.' God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death." (NLT)
Effectively Wipe Out Bad Habits
So how do we effectively wipe out those bad habits?
By checking our desires and submitting them to God. If we desire wrong things, we will keep doing wrong things. If we want to sin, we will sin. If we want to live right, we will live right.
Friend, what's your pleasure? Do you delight in God and take pleasure in fearing Him, or do you enjoy giving in to the flesh and its urges?
Thankfully, Satan unsuccessfully tempted the Lord Jesus Christ while He was fasting. The tempter failed to make Jesus turn stone into bread for His hunger, failed to make Him jump off a high place to test God, and failed to make Him bow down in exchange for all the "good things" this world has to offer.
Because Christ lived a sinless life, we can live our lives sinning less. Work on cleansing your heart with the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and your bad habits will go away.
