Change of Habit ~ Galatians 6:22-26 ~ Lenten Sermon Series

I once heard someone say that if you don’t train your dog, your dog will train you…

My family certainly knew the latter to be the case…

Six months after my family adopted our little Lhasa Apso Sandy, my little sister and I thought it would be "cute" to feed her morsels of food from the dinner table-- particularly the foods we didn't like...  The way we saw it, anything was better than brown, dry morsels of Hill's Science Diet she got to eat...

Within another six months, Sandy was so used to eating people food that she would whimper and beg at every meal...  And most of the time, everyone gave in and fed her from the table, just to keep her quiet...

It wasn't long before my parents were subject to stern lectures by the vet, as Sandy became overweight... 

But by now, there was no going back...  You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Later on in her life, she wouldn't even touch the Science Diet.  We'd put it in her dog dish, and she'd turn her little nose up and walk away.  She'd even go on hunger strikes, just to get her way. 

By the second half of her life, her diet became Cesar and Chef Michaels premium dog food, served on a dinner plate...  Of course, she'd inhale that meal in about sixty seconds, and she'd run right back to the dinner table, begging-- because you can't teach an old dog new tricks...

Does that rule apply to human beings?

Whether we realize it or not, our lives are full of habits-- some good, some bad.  These habits become the building blocks upon which we live our lives.  They are the routines, the rituals, the practices which pervade everything we do, from work to school to play, to keeping house and driving the car, to how we think and how we sleep.  Our habits influence the ways we deal with stress and disappointments, and attempt to solve problems.  Our relationship with Jesus is even built upon the foundation of habits.  I once heard it said that it takes only about three weeks to break the good habit of going to church, and just three days to break the good habit of daily prayer...

Since habits make up the foundations of our lives, Jesus' imagery in the sixth chapter of Luke is very fitting: a life full of bad habits is as a house built without a foundation.  When the waters of trouble rise, we fall and fall apart. 

Isn't that true?  Bad habits are far more than just annoyances to the people around us, like chewing with your mouth open...  Bad habits can be dangerous to public safety, toxic to our health, and ruinous to our relationships.  Whether we like it or not, we all have bad habits...

When I was working my last job, my bad habit was Pepsi.  I typically drank 2-3 twenty-four ounce Pepsis per day.  The reason why was that I never worked consistent shifts.  I could start as early as 6:30 a.m., and I could finish as late as midnight.  So all that sugar and caffeine got me going in the morning-- and it kept me going.  Plus, I loved how it tasted...  It never crossed my mind that I might have a problem, even after my boss criticized me in a performance review for being "jumpy."

It took me nearly five years to break that habit.  But that was one bad habit.  How can we break free of these bad habits that entangle our lives, cloud our thinking, threaten the health, safety, and well-being of not just ourselves, but others too? 

Can we old dogs learn new tricks?

We are now one week into the Lenten season; a time in which we carefully examine our lives and seek God's help to cast aside and toss away anything and everything that is holding us back from living and participating in Christ.  It's an annual season of spring cleaning for our lives, if you will.  But we don't do this to get ourselves right with God, in hopes that we'll be saved.  We do this because our sins are forgiven; because we are children of God.  The same Holy Spirit through which God called the creation into being is upon us, forming and transforming us into the people God wants us to be.  We are being changed, so that we can live faithfully as God's people and be at peace.

If there's ever one thing that happened as Jesus walked the earth, it was change.  The blind began to see; the lame walked; the demon-possessed were cleansed.  Sinners were forgiven.  Outcasts found their place in God's family. 

If our eternal destiny is changed by the death and resurrection of Christ, we can fully expect that our hearts and minds are changed as well...  The saving grace that forgives our sins also transforms us, destroying those bad habits that do us harm and entangle us in sin.

We old dogs are learning new tricks!

So take an inventory of your life:

·         What are the bad habits that put your health and safety at risk? 

·         What are the bad habits that affect your relationships?  How do you react when people mistreat and abuse you?    Do you manage your stress, or does your stress manage you?
·         What are the top priorities for spending your time, money, and energy?  Where does Jesus fit in? 

The trouble with bad habits is that we don’t necessarily call them bad.  We may call them good.  We may not want to break them.  We depend on them.  They make life fun.  They give us control.  They save us time.  We can't imagine life without them. 

 But God isn't waiting on us to change.  We're being changed.  And you are invited to change so to know Christ more deeply. 

So consider these fruits of the Spirit:

·         What opportunities exist for you to love selflessly? 

·         How can you create peace in tense situations? 
·         How (and when) can you be kind, patient, and generous? 
·         Can you give up trying to control people and situations and just trust God to sort it out?
·         Can you give up aggressively pursuing your own interests and live gently?
·         Can you break the habits of self-indulgence and control your appetites?

Change of habit is a gift God gives.  The Spirit is upon you-- so you can be the person God created you to be.  The seeds are already planted in you to bear these fruits.  You can obey God's will, and discover the peace and joy of doing so.  God will heal your wounds as you act to heal the wounds of others. 

But do not mistake that there is indeed a sense of urgency here.  Habits are matters of life and death.  Yet God desires life for you-- and God will give you whatever it takes to live in faith, trust, and love.