Do you have any old habits that are catching up with you right now? Things you are having a hard time letting go of? Things that keep creeping up from your past? I’m sure you do. Fear not though. I don’t think you are alone. I believe all of us have things that tend to try to come back into our lives. As Christ-followers, we aren’t immune to this. Especially, if we are relatively new believers.
Remember this, there’s a chance that a big portion of your life has included old habits. And it’s safe to say, that some of us have had habits in the past that were not so good. Bad habits. Destructive habits. Habits that would lead us down the wrong paths. Or maybe, we picked up those habits on our own going down the wrong paths. I’m not justifying anything. I’m not saying they were ok. I’m just saying that be aware that a big portion of your life may have included habits like those. So it may take some time to develop a real strength and resistance to them.
Barbara and I were having this conversation the other day with someone. The temptations and the habits that I had in my younger years no longer bug me. They don’t tempt me. They’re in my past. I don’t even give them a second consideration. Actually, if the topic wasn’t brought up, I wouldn’t even think about them. But I must give credit where credit is due. Having Jesus in my heart, gives me the strength to battle issues like this. We all have demons. We all have things that we struggle with at one point or another. Jesus gives us the ability to resist. He is our weapon against those things. And he wants us to use him in this capacity. He wants us to turn to him, and to allow him to guide us. That is the God that we have. He knows our hearts. He knows our struggles. He knows our habits. And our demons. But he also knows that with him, we can overcome all of those things. Because he loves us. He always has. He always will.