a great weapon against sin

Today we read in the One Year Bible from Romans 7:14-8:8. In this passage, Paul tells us that he does the things he knows are wrong and doesn't want to do, and he doesn't do the things he knows are good that he DOES want to do. And why is that? Well, in his words, it's because sin within him is doing the action, not him.

But another way of looking at this (the same concept, just with different words) is that he has a bad habit. If you read the book, "The Power of Habit", which the picture above refers to, you'll find that the author of that book falls right into step with the ideas that Paul tells us in Romans. That we do things that our brains know are bad for us, but we're in the habit of doing it, so that it's not even us doing it anymore, but the "cue, reward, routine" program in our lives make the action automatic. In order to stop doing the thing we don't want to do anymore (the sin), we have to form new habits (allow the Holy Spirit to control us instead of our previous desires.

The best way to get rid of an old, bad habit is not to try to use willpower to stop. This will mostly end in frustration and defeat, with a dash of self-loathing thrown in for good measure. The best way to get rid of a bad habit is to form a good habit in its place. Read the book (or just this little article) to learn more about how to form good habits over bad ones.

But if we take that lesson to heart, then forming habits of going for a walk, praying daily, spending time in the Bible, and doing good things for other people (working in a soup kitchen, reading to people in a nursing home, visiting people in prison) is a great way to replace bad habits in our lives.

God, thank You for giving us such a practical weapon against sin. Help us to implement it.