The Lifelong Habit
By Lexi Ellis
“I consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have
lost all things.”
Philippians 3:8
We
were about to graduate, move out of our apartment, each get married within
months of each other… needless to say, life was a little hectic. So my
roommates and I decided we’d take a day off and have dinner at a 1950’s diner.
We each ordered huge milkshakes and a burger and fries. Our milkshakes and
their tin cans came out first. The milkshakes looked so good, we decided we’d
eat “dessert” first, so we quietly prayed together. As we happily enjoyed our
milkshakes, a man was leaving with his son. Passing our table, he stopped, put
his hand on the table and said, “Great way to start your meal, ladies” and
walked away. My precious friend made this face of disgust after he left, “Well,
excuse me if we want to eat our milkshakes before dinner!” My other roommate
and I looked at her and laughed. “Pretty sure he was talking about us praying,
Alicia!” To her, taking time to talk to God was simply what she does before she
eats.
Researchers
at University College London recently announced that habits aren’t
formed by isolated, repetitive actions. There’s no rule to forming a habit;
there’s no “do it 7 times…12 times…28 times….”(1) To
be honest, that’s a relief. I’ve read Scripture most of my life, and I still
struggle to slow down my pace to spend time with God. I’ve tried to make active
prayer an automatic habit and yet, it’s a decision I need to choose all over
again daily.
But
maybe that’s the secret. Maybe if aspects of our relationship with God became
too rote, it wouldn’t be relationship. What I loved about my roommate’s
innocent response was that it revealed she’s continually choosing the
relationship…so much so, she hardly noticed it may be uncommon to pray before a
meal in a public place. Her response hadn’t become a habit just because she’s
prayed multiple times at a restaurant before…it had become a habit because
she’s actively pursing a relationship with her Savior.
Our
culture loves quick-fixes; we love finding a rote solution that will lead to
being done with work. But Oswald Chambers wrote, “It is a joy to Jesus when a
person takes time to walk more intimately with Him. The bearing of fruit is
always shown in Scripture to be a visual result of an intimate relationship
with Jesus Christ.” Our relationship with Christ - - and being in the habit of
delighting in His Word, actively praying and living out His message - - comes
out of an intimate relationship with our God. It requires a lifelong building
of those habits.
GOING DEEPER:
1. What should you do to continue building the
habit of an active relationship with Christ?
FURTHER READING:
Lexi
recently married Andrew, serves with Children’s Ministries at Oakwood, and is a
fourth grade teacher at Lake Country Christian Academy.
