Editorial—Habit
The word “HABIT” sometimes has a negative connotation because of harmful practices such as drug addiction, smoking, or alcoholism. Regarding a drug addict, people would say that such a person has a bad HABIT; or for smokers, people regard them as having a bad HABIT. It happened to my father. Before he accepted Jesus as his Savior and was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church, he had a bad HABIT, which had become what many health professionals term a disease. He was an alcoholic. He suffered from alcoholism.
My father was an elder of his church, so he frequently preached for the congregation. I was not yet born at the time, but when I became an adult, my father told me that he used to drink a cup of strong liquor before he stood up on the pulpit to help him speak more fluently and to give him the courage to look people in their eyes. Whenever Christmas Eve would come around, he would go to church for worship wearing a nice, clean white suit, but after the service was over, he would not go directly home. Instead, he would stop by the liquor store and then go drinking with his friends and get drunk. He was unable to make it home by himself, so he was often found lying in a ditch covered with his vomit. Somebody would then have to take him home. Indeed, he truly had a bad HABIT, which was hard for him to give up.
After my father joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church, his HABITUAL life was shifted from bad to good. He was no longer addicted to alcohol, and by God’s grace, prayer became his HABIT. I will never forget what I saw every morning, soon after my father woke up. He would be kneeling down beside his bed, praying with his face looking up toward heaven. His HABIT changed after he met Jesus, with whom he deeply connected every single day.
Despite the negative connotation of the word “HABIT,” there are also some good HABITS, such as the HABIT of giving, the HABIT of gratitude, the HABIT of witnessing, and the HABIT of prayer.
Daniel had a HABIT of praying three times a day. In Daniel 6:10 (NIV), we read, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” Jesus also had a HABIT of praying, and it is recorded in Luke 5:16 (NIV): “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Jesus’ HABIT was praying, talking to His Father, and committing Himself to His Father’s will.
HABIT is a repeated action that we do again and again. Our HABITS show our true self, but the most important aspect is that HABITS build our character. We don’t take anything when we go to heaven except our character. Therefore, our good HABITS are one of the most important elements that need to be well developed.
What are our HABITS? As parents, have we practiced good HABITS that our children will see and emulate in their lives? Ellen White wrote in The Adventist Home, p. 201.1, “Some parents have suffered their children to form wrong HABITS, the marks of which may be seen all through life. Upon the parents lies this sin. These children may profess to be Christians; yet without a special work of grace upon the heart and a thorough reform in life, their past HABITS will be seen in all their experience, and they will exhibit just the character which their parents allowed them to form.”
Think about how many relationships have been destroyed because of HABITS, how many marriages have been lost because of HABITS, and how many families have been divided because of HABITS. Hence, let us take a careful assessment of our HABITS. Practice good HABITS, and don’t ever allow poor HABITS to control us. Let Jesus be reflected in the HABITS of our lives.
Hiskia Missah
Editor
