BAD SPIRITUAL HABITS (2)

Victor M. Eskew

 

            Do you have any bad habits?  Most of us have one or two.  Some people like to complain.  Some like to watch far too much football.  Others are workaholics.  Some are procrastinators.  Still others are too engrossed in computer games.  The list of bad habits just goes on and on. 

            When we get a bad habit, it is very difficult to abandon.  We might try for a day of two, but the habit reappears.  The reason is because we have done it for so often that it is now an involuntary behavior.  To break the habit will require a lot of focused attention and willpower.  Bad habits can be overcome, but it is definitely a battle.

            Sadly, some of us develop bad spiritual habits.  We discussed some of the bad habit Christians get involved in regarding worship in our last article.  Let’s examine a few more bad habits in this article.  One bad habit that some have is always looking at the negatives in the church.  They see the low attendance figures.  They see a church without many young people.  They see a congregation that does not meet its budget.  They see a church that is not supporting very many mission efforts.  They hear a bad sermon or prayer.  They keep track of all the songs that are sung off key or too slowly or too quickly. Sadly, these individuals can hardly see any good within the local church at all.  In addition to seeing the negatives, they seem like they have to discuss them all of the time.  They gripe and complain to almost anyone who will listen. 

            Israel was much like this while they were wandering in the wilderness.  A word that we read with regularity as we study that 40-year period is the word “murmur.”  “And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?” (Exo. 15:24).  “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness” (Exo. 16:2).  “And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst” (Exo. 17:3).  “And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron:  and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt!  or would God we had died in the wilderness” (Num. 14:2).  Israel just could not be pleased.  Every little hardship turned into a gripe session.  They did not rejoice in their new found freedom.  They did not give thanks for their wonderful blessings.  They could only see and magnify the bad.  Dear readers, God does not want us following in the footsteps of those Jews.  In I Corinthians 10:10, Paul writes:  “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.”  Murmuring is an awful habit.  It needs to be replaced with a diligent search for blessings and with the practice of constant thanksgiving.

            Another bad habit that some have developed is having a willingness to compromise the truth.  Many do not seem to like the exclusive nature of the truth and of the church for which Jesus died.  Instead of holding firm to the truth, they want to water it down.  They want to fellowship those who teach false doctrines.  They do not want to admit the horrible consequences that will come to those who adhere to the doctrines of men.  Their bad habit of compromise often leads them away from the straight and narrow.  They become highly critical of those who hold fast to sound doctrine.  They apologize to others for things that are taught in the Word of God.  They let others know that they do not believe everything “the church of Christ teaches.”

            In II John 9, John teaches us that those who reject the doctrine of Christ do not have God.  Listen to the apostle’s words:  “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.  He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”  When Paul left Ephesus to go into Macedonia, he left Timothy behind with the mission of charging some not to teach any other doctrine but the doctrine of Christ.  “As I besought thee to abide still in Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightiest charge some that they teach no other doctrine” (I Tim. 1:3).  Titus, another young gospel preacher, was exhorted to speak “the things which become sound doctrine” (Tit. 2:1).  In verses 7 and 8 of this same chapter, Paul exhorts the evangelist with these words:  “In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works:  in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned…”  The word “uncorruptness” involves having no contaminates, no pollution, and nothing that is untrustworthy.”  In other words, Paul told Titus that he needed to make sure his doctrine was pure and full of the utmost integrity.  Those who have a tendency to compromise the truth need to change this bad habit.  These individuals need to develop a deep understanding of the purpose of truth.  Truth frees men from deception that enslaves them, and, ultimately, destroys them.  Jesus taught:  “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).  If we truly realize the purpose of God’s truth, we will NEVER forsake it.  We will do as the wise man said:  “Buy the truth, and sell it not…” (Prov. 23:23).

            A third bad habit that some in the church have developed is a failure to truly study God’s Word.  Oh yes, they are at every Bible study hour and worship service, but they do not study the Bible the other five days of the week.  When they go home, their Bible is put on a table or shelf and is not opened until the next Bible study hour or worship period.  They will use the excuse that they are too busy.  Or, they will complain that when they study the Bible, they do not really know what they are doing.  Some will admit that they just do not enjoy reading and diligently digging into God’s truth.

            This is a bad habit that keeps individuals ignorant of the truth.  It also causes members of the church not to be properly protected against the wiles of the devil.  Jesus told the Jews:  “…If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples in deed” (John 8:31).  Paul commands us to “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15).  And, Peter exhorts us with these words:  “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (I Pet. 2:2).  Dear Christians, as disciples of Christ we are supposed to be learners.  We need to get away from the television and from our cell phones and put some precious time into a diligent study of God’s Word.  We need to read the text, define the words, understand the meaning of the text, and learn the important lessons for our lives that are found in the Bible.  It is only through knowledge that we can truly conform ourselves into the image of Jesus Christ.

            An old adage says that “bad habits die hard.”  How true that is.  We can acknowledge our bad spiritual habits rather easily, but it is not easy to overcome them.  Yet, overcome them we must.  We hope that all of us will try to find the positives rather than the negative in our congregation.  We pray that all of us will love the truth and never compromise one point of doctrine.  Lastly, we desire for all of us to become true students of the Good Book.  When James’ readers developed the habit of fraternizing with the world, James rebuked them in James 4:4.  That habit needed to die.  Here’s what he told them to do:  “Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you.  Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts ye doubleminded.  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep:  let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:7-10).  Perhaps some of us need to give heed to the wisdom of James in order to rid ourselves of our bad spiritual habits.