Page 5 - Faith-Based Workbook Sample 8-27-18

TOPUCU Adult Faith-Based Workbook Lesson 1: Part 1

LESSON 1: PART 1
These routine tasks – habits – are stored unless you were speeding, the drive home
WHY DO I KEEP DOING THAT? in a part of your brain called the basal was no different at all. What happened is
ganglia. If you imagine your brain as an
the route that you took is now stored in
onion, your basal ganglia would be at the your basal ganglia and therefore you didn’t
core – surrounded by the outer layers, experience the same discomfort. Now think
which are more responsible for thought about what happens after you’ve driven the
"For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved." — 2 Peter 2:19 (ESV) and consciousness. It’s widely accepted same route 15 or 20 times – like your drive to
throughout the medical and psychological work or church. For one thing you no longer
Today we are going to talk about habits. is most of us have never really paid much fields of study that when habits are being need your GPS. And when you arrive at the
Why? Because habits are a prime principle attention to our habits. By their very nature, formed there is increased activity in the destination, often you don’t even remember
of life. As followers of Christ we understand habits are actions performed without a great basal ganglia, which manifests itself as a the details of your drive. You say to yourself,
good habits are important when we consider deal of thought and once a habit is formed pronounced discomfort in the brain. After “Did I stop at that traffic light today?” You
one of our key purposes is to shine God’s we tend to do it effortlessly - especially bad all, habit formation is literally the process don’t remember that right turn at the gas
light in this world. Matthew 7:16 says, “By or unhealthy habits. They become a part of of rewiring your neural pathways. As a task station or the left turn at the 7-Eleven.
their fruit, you will recognize them.” (NIV) our character and we do them over, and over, is repeated over and over again and the Each little step along the journey – the
This is written to suggest that your outer and over without ever really thinking about habit is formed, activity in the basal ganglia braking, the turns, the gentle pauses in the
actions will inevitably reflect what’s in your why we choose to do them or how they decreases and that discomfort becomes less congestion – have become so routine that
heart. And those outer actions are usually a contribute to the quality of our life. pronounced and eventually non-existent. the entire drive has become habitual.
product of our habits. We’d all like to think Now, that all sounds very scientific, but Now, in the character of a man or woman,
we have this innate desire to pray and read For example, good habits are like our as believers we can see in the Bible where habits are formed in a manner similar
our Bible on a daily basis, however, if we are fingers: we use them all the time without this idea is rooted in truth. Hebrews 5:16 to one’s drive to work, each small habit
truly being honest with ourselves, we know thought and we almost never realize how says, “…But solid food is for the mature, becoming so perfected, so effortless,
that these activities often get pushed to the valuable they are until one of them is hurt. who by constant use have trained eventually blending together so efficiently
side. We’re too busy. Or we’re too tired. Or Fingers, like good habits, benefit us in ways themselves to distinguish good from evil.” that they are seemingly difficult to tear
we just don’t consider doing it unless we we rarely consider. This passage speaks specifically about part. Eventually, the character of the
need to ask the Father for something. In But bad habits are not so easily identified! spiritual maturity, however, it definitively individual is defined largely by the
other words, it’s just not habitual behavior. A bad habit is like an infected finger that states that spiritual maturity is gained habits they have formed.
we ignore. We just live with this bad habit
We sometimes attribute our bad habits to a through repetition, and discernment In fact, this principle is so important, that one
lack of spiritual strength or even a spiritual even though it’s causing us pain and becomes easier the more you practice it. of America’s greatest founding fathers wrote
struggle, and while the Bible does teach eventually harm. Here’s a great practical example. Let’s say an entire book on the topic. In Benjamin
us that we battle against principalities in So what exactly is a habit? you’re traveling somewhere for the first time Franklin’s book, “The Pursuit of Moral
the unseen world, it also lays out several and your destination is about thirty minutes Perfection”, he explains how he applied the
examples of why it is important to develop A habit is defined as a behavioral pattern away. About half way into the trip you power of habits to his life that consequently
and follow through with good habits. 2 Peter developed by frequent repetition that is begin looking at your GPS impatiently and resulted in his success and fame.
2:19 tells us “for whatever overcomes a thereafter performed without conscious inevitably wondering “am I ever going to get
person, to that he is enslaved.” (ESV) This thought. The brain does it automatically, there?” The unfamiliarity of the roads you’re At TOPUCU, our goal is to help people
sounds pretty similar to a quote from an like brushing your teeth, eating, or perhaps, traveling literally creates discomfort in your develop better habits, with a particular
English writer by the name of John Dryden even driving to work. Clinical research brain. Once you arrive at your destination focus on finishing. What are the possibilities
who once said, “We first make our habits, has shown that about 40 percent of the that discomfort dissipates. Now think about if we develop a habit of transforming our
then our habits make us.” The importance things we do every day are done through your return trip. Somehow, it’s always shorter, minds so that finishing what we start is as
of good habits cannot be overstated. habitual behavior, the conscious process of right? We end up saying things like, “Wow, natural as brushing our teeth or driving to
which often goes unnoticed because we do a familiar place we visit all the time?
So why, then, is it so hard to form good not have to engage in self-analysis when the drive home was so much quicker” and, What if finishing well became a habit
habits and keep them? Well, the first reason undertaking routine tasks. “I made great time on the way back.” Well in our lives?

6 7