This is the eighth sermon in this ten-sermon series. It seems that we mostly know what to do to live a Christian life. But we don’t live that way. We don’t live that way because we have trouble with the How of living like a Christian should. And so in this series, we are trying to cover the HOW of what we do, since most of us get more hung up on HOW than What.
This week, we’ll cover how to make good habits.
How many of you read your bible every day this week? How many of you prayed over every meal? How many prayed before bedtime? How many spent an hour with just God every morning this week? How many of you praised God to your friends, neighbors, and family in your conversations this week? Here’s something easier – how many people brushed your teeth once in the last 24 hours?
OH, good habits. If we all did what we are supposed to do, then we would be such a wonderful, godly, growing group of people.
Habits are what routines are made of, and I for one am a man of routine. There are certain things you can count on with me.
At night, before I turn off my light, my cell phone and Kindle are plugged in and on the nightstand beside my bed. My alarms are set.
Whenever I leave my house, I pat my pocket for my key. The same thing when I leave my car.
When I arrive home after services today, I will let the dog out for a walk and check telephone messages. At some point today, I’ll check what the sermon plan is for next Sunday and read the scripture that I’ll be using.
I began my sermon on Monday, getting very in-depth with the scripture and research, mostly writing the sermon, finished it on Tuesday – ten type-written pages, Romans 14 point font for most, six or seven pages for Communion Sundays, On Tuesday, I prepared overhead images and started the bulletin on Wednesday.
At some point this week, probably on Thursday, I finished the bulletin, made copies, and folded it. I printed out my sermon and emailed it and the bulletin to Ethel, AJ, and Brian Nichols so Ethel could make copies for those who need it, AJ could prepare the Monroe Chapel bulletin, and Brian could prepare the overhead slides for presentation.
This morning, I arrived at Quiet Dell about 9 am, I prepared my hymnal with paperclips, arranged my sermon package in order, and made a copy of the third reading for whoever would read today.
Routine, you see, is nice because I don’t have to figure out what to do. I have my routine and my habits. In fact, almost everyone already has developed some good habits. For example, almost everyone here brushed their teeth this morning. So we already have experience with this – we just need to extend it to more of our lives.
So how do we develop new, good habits?
Well, the world has some methods, and mature Christianity has additional methods. Let’s talk about worldly methods first, because these are simpler – and amazingly enough – they often work.
First, we have to decide what habits we will adopt. Pick a habit you'd like to adopt, like reading your Bible daily or praying daily. Don’t try to adopt more than one or two at a time, or you won’t adopt any.
Now that you have decided what habits you will adopt, begin this way:
First of all, assign a place for every THING you have. Perhaps the best habit we can adopt is to put everything in its place. For example, my keys are in my right pants pocket, my phone in my shirt pocket if I have one, or else it is in my left pants pocket. At night, my phone and keys are one my night stand. That way, I know exactly where they are when I need them.
In the same way, my shirt pocket has a pen – or it is in the right pants pocket if my shirt doesn’t have a pocket. The pen also goes on the night stand at night.
If you give every item in your house a home, you have just reduced all that thinking and searching effort that’s needed if you put things in many different places. The habit of putting things in the same place is the single most valuable secular habit you can have. Those who have looked for your keys or phone, can I get an “amen”?
Second, we have to develop habits for activities. And this is trickier. But we can take advantage of the fact that our life is so structured around the clock – most of our activities happen at the same time on particular days.
Perhaps the best way to develop the habits in our modern world is with the calendar. I use my phone’s calendar to schedule events which repeat every week or every month. For example, my calendar is set to show UM Women on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 6:30 pm. I get a notification email a day ahead of time and my phone beeps with a notification a half-hour before the meeting.
At 8:55 this morning, my phone began to play the theme from the Lone Ranger, just as it does every Sunday morning, so that I will remember to stop what I’m doing and go to church.
And you know, after I’ve done these activities for a year, I can usually remember them without help.
And you know, you can set alarms on your phone for taking medicine, for birthdays, for turning on the television to watch a great pastor like Dr. Charles Stanley, for calling your mother – and for reading scripture or praying.
When the Quiet Dell bells ring on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, about a half-dozen women head to my office to pray for the success of the worship service. You can join them if you wish. The bells trigger them to remember, just as in the old days before everyone had clocks, the bells told the people in the community that it was time to worship.
Now for some of you, I’ve already given you enough to run with. You’ll simply put a time to pray on your daily schedule with an alarm and that will be it. You’ll begin praying at that time every day. And you’ll add a time to read your Bible with a notification and a block of time and that will be enough.
But there is something we’ve all noticed. There are certain good habits we simply don’t start. We may do them for two or three days and then we stop. The exercise centers of the world have noticed that huge numbers of adults like to join exercise centers like the YMCA, Planet Fitness, etc during September and January. Attendance peaks for a couple of weeks, and then attendance drops off. That’s why they set up a monthly debit to your account which keeps charging you even during the months you only attend once or twice…if at all. If everyone who started at a fitness center in January attended the fitness center every day, there wouldn’t be nearly enough machines to go around. But we can’t hold onto that habit and so the fitness centers this time of year have very few people on the machines.
Other good habits we all know about include saving money, reading your bible, praying, attending Sunday School and mid-week studies, writing cards of encouragement to people on the prayer list or telephoning them, giving tithes to the church. We start out with great plans, but we stop after a few days or weeks. Why?
Sometimes the will is there but the memory is not. That’s why I have my donations to the church sent automatically from my checking account – I could never remember to write the check out in the business of Sunday morning. If you want to do that, the church address is in the bulletin. I have money automatically put into a retirement savings account by the church; I have additional money automatically transferred to another account each month to pay my income taxes with, since clergy must pay both sides of the Social Security and Medicare, and the church isn’t allowed to withhold for us. I fix my bad memory by setting up automatic payments and automatic transfers through my bank.
Other times…let’s be honest? The will simply isn’t there. You had a teacher in elementary school who made you feel stupid in reading class and so you have never liked to read since then and besides, the Bible is complicated to read. Two answers – Modern translations of the Bible like the NIV – New International Version, the New King James Version NKJV, the Common English Bible CEB, or the Holman Christian Standard Bible are much easier to read than the old King James Version, which was written at the same time as Shakespeare. And secondly, audio versions of these are available for your telephone so you can listen to them.
But maybe you consider reading the Bible to be dull and boring. Maybe when I use the word “class” about a Bible study class, you think – “I hated the classroom when I was in school”. For this habit, we need to learn more about what is actually involved in the habit. What is a modern Bible study class like, after all?
Most of our classes are actually groups of people who are discussing the Bible passages. We read a section of the bible, then we start talking back and forth. Sometimes we start talking about Peter and John in prison and someone asks what a prison was like in those days. Another person talks about visiting a prison with a prison ministry, and a third person wonders what prisons of the mind we put ourselves in, and then we all talk about how Christ gets us out of those prisons of sadness, prisons of loneliness, prisons of bad habits, and someone who has been sad for a month tells of their journey and others gather around him or her and hug the sad person and suddenly, we all feel that the Body of Christ has done just what the Body of Christ was supposed to do. That’s what we do in our classes. And that’s why these good habits are so important, because some weeks you are the one who hugs and some weeks you are the one who needs and gets the hugs, but the good habit of being with other people who are positive and focused upon Christ is necessary for our well-being.
Jesus told a story about a woman who had a good habit. She begged a certain judge for help. She begged him every time he came to town, every week or so. It was her habit to ask for justice. At first, the judge told her “NO!”, but over time, he began to crack and finally he gave into her, heard her case, and granted her request. Jesus makes the point that this judge was not particularly good, but gave in because of the woman’s persistent habit. And in the same way, God – who is good and just – will hear our prayers. The persistent good habit of prayer is important. But do we do this? No. We pray once or twice and then give up. The point of this parable is that we are to continue in our prayers. Habitual prayer is important.
The Apostle Paul also liked a good habit. In our reading from Timothy, Paul compared good Christian habits that lead toward holiness and godliness to an athlete training for competition. He wrote:
Rather, train yourself in godliness, for
the training of the body has a limited benefit,
but godliness is beneficial in every way,
since it holds promise for the present life
and also for the life to come.
Godliness and holiness “is beneficial in every way.” So what habits lead to godliness?
Paul tells Timothy and us:
Command and teach these things. Let no one despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers…
Holiness does not depend upon us being old. We can become holy while we are still young if we practice, so we can be an example to others.
Paul said:
“…you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
There are habits of action that we are to practice. Our speech should be pure and clean and uplifting. Our conduct should be a good example. We should show others examples of self-sacrificing love – the Greek word used here for love is agape. Our faith should set a high standard, and we should remain pure and not be vulgar or low. (Perhaps we can stop watching Presidential debates!) Each of these good things is a habit which needs to be built every day – a way of acting which develops best when we are constantly reading our Scripture, in conversation with God and the Holy Spirit throughout the day.
Here’s a tip I picked up a while back. Several hundred years ago, St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was a military man before he became a Catholic priest, developed a training system for his group of priests, the Jesuits. Part of the training is teaching trainees that whenever we recognize a sin in our actions, words, or thoughts, we should take our hand and make a subtle, quiet, and private movement, such as touching our heart. In this way, we begin to notice our sins more and this leads us to a better recognition when we are doing wrong. We can then better work on what we are doing wrong, removing the bad habits and focusing on developing good habits. Having a way to call our own attention to our bad habits can led to good habits.
Paul continues:
Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.
Paul means that we are to read scripture publically – in our world this means Bible study with others and quoting scripture. Do you read scripture in your family with your children or grandchildren, with your husband or wife? Make it a habit and see what happens in your family. Perhaps when the extended family comes over, you can read a paragraph of scripture before you say grace for the meal. Simple enough. Make it a tradition.
Scripture traditions can become important. In our family, we have a tradition that on Christmas Eve, we read Luke 2 before the presents are opened. Because of the help of Biblegateway.com, we are able to have Luke 2 printed out in any language, and our tradition says that Luke 2 is read in the native language of every person present by a native speaker of that language. We began this when we were ministering to the International students at Marietta College. We’d read Luke 2 in English, another would read in Chinese, another in Portuguese and another in Korean or Japanese. You can get any language on biblegateway.com. If you visit my home on Christmas Eve, you’ll hear Luke 2.
Paul says we are to give attention to exhortation – encouraging one another to do good. We point people to God – not to their sins. Remember, if you are pointing toward another’s sin, you are not pointing toward God. We are to point the way to God. Practice pointing in the right direction.
And Paul says we are to be teaching. Did you ever teach a child anything? How to tie shoe laces, how to brush teeth, how to hold fishing pole, how to sew? Teaching involves much more than standing in a classroom and lecturing. We teach all the time when we sit with children or adults and tell them stories of God, of Jesus, of the Old Testament, of what we’ve learned of God’s love, what we know about how deep in sin we were but how Christ and God helped us come out of that sin. We are to teach – it is a habit. Practice it.
Paul continues:
Do not neglect the gift that is in you;
God has given each of us one or more gifts – almost superpowers – which we are not to neglect. Each of these gifts helps the Body of Christ. One person may be a great singer – then practice singing as a habit! You may not like a particular person in the choir – consider: Will you turn down the gift of singing for God because of one person’s attitude or action?
Another person may be able to lay on hands and heal people. Get in the habit of doing this – even if God didn’t heal everybody every time. Heal those whom God will choose to heal.
Still another may have the gift of organizing – then organize things – you can start with my office!
You may have still another gift, but whatever your gift is, use your gift regularly – get in the habit of using that gift which God has given you for God’s glory!
Paul finishes with a general request to practice these habits:
Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
When you practice godly habits, you will save both yourself and your hearers – those people near you. Persevere in these things. Keep at it.
But what advice does the Bible give which will help us to practice these habits and make them part of our lives?
Most importantly, we must recognize becoming godly as an important goal. If we don’t care to become godly, we won’t care about habits that lead to godliness. And that is difficult, for so many people believe that “I’m going to heaven, so I’m ok.” Why practice becoming godly if this is your position?
Yes, you believe that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God. Yes, you believe He died for your sins and that His resurrection proved He was and is divine. Yes, you were even baptized. But are you truly following Christ? Do you see and understand that Jesus set an example for us that we are to follow? Are we trying each day to become more and more Christ-like in our thoughts, our actions, and our words?
When you sign up for the army, that is not the end. Every week there is further training so that you aren’t just a soldier, but you become a better and better soldier every week. The sergeant with 20 years experience is a much better soldier than the raw recruit. And so it is with the Army of God.
If you have been a Christian for twenty years, are you more godly than you were 15 years ago? Or did you sort of plateau, like the runner who works up to running a mile a day and then, three years later, can still only run a mile a day? Or are you the type who practiced and after three years, you can now run five miles a day and plan to run a marathon in three more years?
Godliness doesn’t require our bodies to be in great shape. It is a matter of practicing so our souls are well-trained, so we have traded in our bad habits for our new, good, godly habits. Godliness means, as Paul says, that we “pay close attention to our lives and our teaching; and persevere in these things, for by doing this we will save both ourselves and our hearers.”
One of the things I plan to do over the next year is to remind us of something, something most of us have forgotten. The apostles, Peter, John, Paul and all the rest, the second generation that included Timothy, Titus, Phoebe and others – they accomplished great things. That original group of about 120 people changed the world completely.
They did not do it because they were great men and women. They were not particularly educated or great speakers or wise or wealthy – although some were, most were not. Those early disciples did not have special advantages over the rest of the people in the world. Except this one overwhelming advantage.
They were possessed of the Holy Spirit, listened to the Holy Spirit, and did without fear what the Holy Spirit asked them to do. And they changed the world!
I need to remind you of something. If you’ve been baptized – you have that very same Holy Spirit, which has not gone away or changed. That Holy Spirit will speak to you on behalf of Christ and the Father, neither of whom have changed or gone away. God the Father has every bit as much power as He did 2000 years ago. Jesus Christ has every bit as much love as He did 2000 years ago. The Holy Spirit has a voice just as loud as 2000 years ago. The same wisdom is still there.
So what has changed?
Only our willingness to listen to that Spirit, to trust in Christ, and to ask the Father to do great things. My wife Saundra calls it the “Jesus is in the pews” problem. Instead of trusting in Jesus, we began to trust in our earthly leaders, giving them the trust we are supposed to give Jesus. We trusted in Ed Tutweiler, in Mary Ellen Finegan, in Kermit Auvil, in George Bramble, in Bob King, in Brian Boley, in AJ King. We trusted in our ability to give, in our ability to do things, in our ability to evangelize, in our ability to put on a great show. And we stopped listening to the Spirit, we stopped trusting in Christ, we stopped asking the Father to do the great things.
For we need to remember that in this building, there is a potential Paul, a John, a Simon Peter, a Phoebe, a Pricilla, an Aquila, a Timothy, an Augustine, a St Francis, a Mother Theresa, a John Wesley, another great saint ready to change the world for God, another great saint – or twenty – who are ready to listen to the Spirit, to trust in Christ, to ask the Father to do great things. When we trusted in our leaders and our own abilities, we limited ourselves, because we forgot that God is ready to kick down doors and make roads to our goals with His almighty power behind His projects. Each of us are princes and princesses of the Kingdom, and our Father is the King of the Universe. Don’t ask how we can possibly do something. Ask yourself - and God – what should we do?
To reclaim our position as God’s heirs, God requires us to do only a few things really, a very few things. Only three good habits are critical – but they, they make all the difference in the world.
First, we must fall in love with God by reading His love letter to us, the Holy Bible, opening our eyes and ears to the God who is here with us this morning and every day and night.
Second, we must learn to listen to God’s gentle voice by two-way prayer, by listening for the speaking of the Holy Spirit, the voice that leads us to give life to ourselves and to others, never harming, never scolding, but gently guiding us toward godliness.
Third, we must learn to trust, to have faith, to have courage that what the Holy Spirit tells us to do is actually the right, the just, the correct thing to do, and then we must do what we are asked to do and say, even if the people around us may look at us with wide, frightened eyes. For we ultimately have to decide – will we do as the men and women around us would tell us to do - or as God asks?
And if we make these few good habits, if we let becoming godly rule our lives, then we will begin to change the world, saving ourselves and those who watch and listen to us.
Jesus told a story about a woman who had a good habit. She begged a certain judge for help. She begged him every time he came to town, every week or so. It was her habit to ask for justice. At first, the judge told her “NO!”, but over time, he began to crack and finally he gave into her, heard her case, and granted her request. Jesus makes the point that this judge was not particularly good, but gave in because of the woman’s persistent habit. And in the same way, God – who is good and just – will hear our prayers. The persistent good habit of prayer is important. But do we do this? No. We pray once or twice and then give up. The point of this parable is that we are to continue in our prayers. Habitual prayer is important.
The Apostle Paul also liked a good habit. In our reading from Timothy, Paul compared good Christian habits that lead toward holiness and godliness to an athlete training for competition. He wrote:
Rather, train yourself in godliness, for
the training of the body has a limited benefit,
but godliness is beneficial in every way,
since it holds promise for the present life
and also for the life to come.
Godliness and holiness “is beneficial in every way.” So what habits lead to godliness?
Paul tells Timothy and us:
Command and teach these things. Let no one despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers…
Holiness does not depend upon us being old. We can become holy while we are still young if we practice, so we can be an example to others.
Paul said:
“…you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
There are habits of action that we are to practice. Our speech should be pure and clean and uplifting. Our conduct should be a good example. We should show others examples of self-sacrificing love – the Greek word used here for love is agape. Our faith should set a high standard, and we should remain pure and not be vulgar or low. (Perhaps we can stop watching Presidential debates!) Each of these good things is a habit which needs to be built every day – a way of acting which develops best when we are constantly reading our Scripture, in conversation with God and the Holy Spirit throughout the day.
Here’s a tip I picked up a while back. Several hundred years ago, St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was a military man before he became a Catholic priest, developed a training system for his group of priests, the Jesuits. Part of the training is teaching trainees that whenever we recognize a sin in our actions, words, or thoughts, we should take our hand and make a subtle, quiet, and private movement, such as touching our heart. In this way, we begin to notice our sins more and this leads us to a better recognition when we are doing wrong. We can then better work on what we are doing wrong, removing the bad habits and focusing on developing good habits. Having a way to call our own attention to our bad habits can led to good habits.
Paul continues:
Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.
Paul means that we are to read scripture publically – in our world this means Bible study with others and quoting scripture. Do you read scripture in your family with your children or grandchildren, with your husband or wife? Make it a habit and see what happens in your family. Perhaps when the extended family comes over, you can read a paragraph of scripture before you say grace for the meal. Simple enough. Make it a tradition.
Scripture traditions can become important. In our family, we have a tradition that on Christmas Eve, we read Luke 2 before the presents are opened. Because of the help of Biblegateway.com, we are able to have Luke 2 printed out in any language, and our tradition says that Luke 2 is read in the native language of every person present by a native speaker of that language. We began this when we were ministering to the International students at Marietta College. We’d read Luke 2 in English, another would read in Chinese, another in Portuguese and another in Korean or Japanese. You can get any language on biblegateway.com. If you visit my home on Christmas Eve, you’ll hear Luke 2.
Paul says we are to give attention to exhortation – encouraging one another to do good. We point people to God – not to their sins. Remember, if you are pointing toward another’s sin, you are not pointing toward God. We are to point the way to God. Practice pointing in the right direction.
And Paul says we are to be teaching. Did you ever teach a child anything? How to tie shoe laces, how to brush teeth, how to hold fishing pole, how to sew? Teaching involves much more than standing in a classroom and lecturing. We teach all the time when we sit with children or adults and tell them stories of God, of Jesus, of the Old Testament, of what we’ve learned of God’s love, what we know about how deep in sin we were but how Christ and God helped us come out of that sin. We are to teach – it is a habit. Practice it.
Paul continues:
Do not neglect the gift that is in you;
God has given each of us one or more gifts – almost superpowers – which we are not to neglect. Each of these gifts helps the Body of Christ. One person may be a great singer – then practice singing as a habit! You may not like a particular person in the choir – consider: Will you turn down the gift of singing for God because of one person’s attitude or action?
Another person may be able to lay on hands and heal people. Get in the habit of doing this – even if God didn’t heal everybody every time. Heal those whom God will choose to heal.
Still another may have the gift of organizing – then organize things – you can start with my office!
You may have still another gift, but whatever your gift is, use your gift regularly – get in the habit of using that gift which God has given you for God’s glory!
Paul finishes with a general request to practice these habits:
Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
When you practice godly habits, you will save both yourself and your hearers – those people near you. Persevere in these things. Keep at it.
But what advice does the Bible give which will help us to practice these habits and make them part of our lives?
Most importantly, we must recognize becoming godly as an important goal. If we don’t care to become godly, we won’t care about habits that lead to godliness. And that is difficult, for so many people believe that “I’m going to heaven, so I’m ok.” Why practice becoming godly if this is your position?
Yes, you believe that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God. Yes, you believe He died for your sins and that His resurrection proved He was and is divine. Yes, you were even baptized. But are you truly following Christ? Do you see and understand that Jesus set an example for us that we are to follow? Are we trying each day to become more and more Christ-like in our thoughts, our actions, and our words?
When you sign up for the army, that is not the end. Every week there is further training so that you aren’t just a soldier, but you become a better and better soldier every week. The sergeant with 20 years experience is a much better soldier than the raw recruit. And so it is with the Army of God.
If you have been a Christian for twenty years, are you more godly than you were 15 years ago? Or did you sort of plateau, like the runner who works up to running a mile a day and then, three years later, can still only run a mile a day? Or are you the type who practiced and after three years, you can now run five miles a day and plan to run a marathon in three more years?
Godliness doesn’t require our bodies to be in great shape. It is a matter of practicing so our souls are well-trained, so we have traded in our bad habits for our new, good, godly habits. Godliness means, as Paul says, that we “pay close attention to our lives and our teaching; and persevere in these things, for by doing this we will save both ourselves and our hearers.”
One of the things I plan to do over the next year is to remind us of something, something most of us have forgotten. The apostles, Peter, John, Paul and all the rest, the second generation that included Timothy, Titus, Phoebe and others – they accomplished great things. That original group of about 120 people changed the world completely.
They did not do it because they were great men and women. They were not particularly educated or great speakers or wise or wealthy – although some were, most were not. Those early disciples did not have special advantages over the rest of the people in the world. Except this one overwhelming advantage.
They were possessed of the Holy Spirit, listened to the Holy Spirit, and did without fear what the Holy Spirit asked them to do. And they changed the world!
I need to remind you of something. If you’ve been baptized – you have that very same Holy Spirit, which has not gone away or changed. That Holy Spirit will speak to you on behalf of Christ and the Father, neither of whom have changed or gone away. God the Father has every bit as much power as He did 2000 years ago. Jesus Christ has every bit as much love as He did 2000 years ago. The Holy Spirit has a voice just as loud as 2000 years ago. The same wisdom is still there.
So what has changed?
Only our willingness to listen to that Spirit, to trust in Christ, and to ask the Father to do great things. My wife Saundra calls it the “Jesus is in the pews” problem. Instead of trusting in Jesus, we began to trust in our earthly leaders, giving them the trust we are supposed to give Jesus. We trusted in Ed Tutweiler, in Mary Ellen Finegan, in Kermit Auvil, in George Bramble, in Bob King, in Brian Boley, in AJ King. We trusted in our ability to give, in our ability to do things, in our ability to evangelize, in our ability to put on a great show. And we stopped listening to the Spirit, we stopped trusting in Christ, we stopped asking the Father to do the great things.
For we need to remember that in this building, there is a potential Paul, a John, a Simon Peter, a Phoebe, a Pricilla, an Aquila, a Timothy, an Augustine, a St Francis, a Mother Theresa, a John Wesley, another great saint ready to change the world for God, another great saint – or twenty – who are ready to listen to the Spirit, to trust in Christ, to ask the Father to do great things. When we trusted in our leaders and our own abilities, we limited ourselves, because we forgot that God is ready to kick down doors and make roads to our goals with His almighty power behind His projects. Each of us are princes and princesses of the Kingdom, and our Father is the King of the Universe. Don’t ask how we can possibly do something. Ask yourself - and God – what should we do?
To reclaim our position as God’s heirs, God requires us to do only a few things really, a very few things. Only three good habits are critical – but they, they make all the difference in the world.
First, we must fall in love with God by reading His love letter to us, the Holy Bible, opening our eyes and ears to the God who is here with us this morning and every day and night.
Second, we must learn to listen to God’s gentle voice by two-way prayer, by listening for the speaking of the Holy Spirit, the voice that leads us to give life to ourselves and to others, never harming, never scolding, but gently guiding us toward godliness.
Third, we must learn to trust, to have faith, to have courage that what the Holy Spirit tells us to do is actually the right, the just, the correct thing to do, and then we must do what we are asked to do and say, even if the people around us may look at us with wide, frightened eyes. For we ultimately have to decide – will we do as the men and women around us would tell us to do - or as God asks?
And if we make these few good habits, if we let becoming godly rule our lives, then we will begin to change the world, saving ourselves and those who watch and listen to us.
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