SECRETS TO UNDOING WHAT YOU DO IN SECRET
0 Comments Published by joy on November 10, 2007 at 11:06 AM.
We all have different habits. Sometimes these habits are good (like brushing your teeth, keeping your quiet time, following good table manners, etc) and sometimes they are not (like picking your nose in public, lying, stealing, etc). Here are some keys to help you stop those bad habits.
- Know yourself and be comfortable with your identity. We keep our habits because they are familiar and we feel comfortable doing what’s familiar. Get to know the reasons for your habits and ask yourself what’s the pros and cons of your habit. If there are more cons or you know that it’s a bad habit, then you should also know that it’s time to change.
- Think differently (Rom 12:2). Change the way you think about the habit. It may be familiar and comfortable but we need to start thinking about how bad it is for us or how bad it makes us look. Changing the way we think will change the way we act.
- Live a spirit-led life (Gal 5:16-25). Did you know that ‘self-control’ is one of the fruit of the Spirit? Living a life that is led by the Holy Spirit means that we have the fruit of the Spirit and that means you have self-control. You can get yourself to stop the habit.
- Get better habits (Gal 6:7-9). Replace those bad habits with good ones. You reap what you sow, so sow in good new habits.
- Have healthy relationships (1 Cor 15:33). Bad company corrupts good character. So if you want to build good character and good habits, hang around with good company.
- Be accountable to a leader (Rom 14:12, Prov 11:14, Gal 6:1-2). That way, our leaders would be able to help us and we’d find it easier to break our habits cos at the end of the, we’re accountable to God for every word, action and thought.
The best advice anyone can give you if you’ve got bad habits is “just stop it!”
Integrity – wow, big word. What does it mean?
Integrity is the quality of being honest and strong about what you believe in (that’s what the dictionary says). In simple words, integrity is honesty, faithfulness, sincerity and innocence. Integrity is our value.
If someone asked you “how much are you worth?”, what would your answer be? 1 million? 10 million? If you were asked to do something which you know isn’t right, would you do it if that person offers you lots of money or gives you a favour? Cos if you’d do what is wrong for 10 million dollars, it means that your integrity can be bought for 10 million dollars. But here’s a trivia – we are worth more than every dollar in the world put together. We are bought with the blood of Christ. That makes us invaluable. Which also means that everything about us is valuable – our words, our actions, our thoughts, etc.
Integrity is something very rare these days. We don’t trust people so easily anymore cos most of the time, people don’t keep their promises or they don’t do what they say. Don’t compromise on integrity by saying “it’s ok” or “never mind la”. You are worth more than that. Stand for what is right and keep to your word cos integrity pleases God (1 Cor 29:17).
Ps Alex
“Life sux!”
I’m sure all of us have said that at least once (if not many times) before.
Ever heard of the expression ‘the grass is greener on the other side’? Yes, someone else’s life always seems better: they have better grades, better parents, better looks, cooler friends, cooler hobbies, better teachers and better everything! We can’t help but compare ourselves with them and wonder why we aren’t as blessed as them. We complain that we don’t have this and we don’t have that. Then we try to make ourselves look better by creating a ‘cooler’ personality, or we become defensive about who we are.
But hey, creating a new personality or snapping at people who joke about you isn’t going to make life sux any less. We’ve got to:
- Learn to be contented / happy with what we have. Quit comparing yourself with others. You are as blessed as they are.
- Live courageously and face rejections. It’s ok if someone says they don’t like your hair/clothes/face. God doesn’t look at those things. He looks at our hearts and doesn’t reject us just because we wear the ‘uncool’ clothes.
- Live in the ‘current’. Don’t live in the past. If you’ve been hurt in the past, it’s time to move on.
- Live convicted. Yep, don’t live in condemnation cos we’re free from condemnation in Christ.
The grass doesn’t have to be greener on the other side. If we look after the grass on this side, it can be greener over here too. Just the same, life doesn’t always have to suck. You can make it better by choosing to do things that will make your life better.
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