Page 6 - Faith-Based Workbook 8-27-18

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