From tying our shoes to driving a car to caring for our physical bodies...habits matter. In A Theology of Christian Counseling, Jay Adams has this to say about habits:
Habit enables human beings to act without conscious decision in a variety of circumstances, so that they may put their minds to other matters instead of focusing upon hundreds of humdrum minutiae (tying shoe laces, buttoning shirts, etc., etc., etc.). But minute habitual acts tie together into patterns too (driving an automobile—foot, hand, eye, arm movements, etc., combine to form a behavior pattern called driving). These patterns are of larger scope. Yet, many Christians go through their lives never hearing a sermon on the problem of sinful habits and what to do about them.
Adams, Jay Edward. 1986. A Theology of Christian Counseling: Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling. Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resource Library.
Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at the subject of habits through the lens of Acts 4:23-27. The context of this passage is Peter and John upon preaching the Gospel, are confronted by Jewish leaders and thrown in jail. Upon their release they are commanded to stop their preaching or else they would face more negative repercussions. The habits that Peter and John had established in the previous three chapters of Acts allowed them to not only do the right thing automatically, but also allowed for God to be glorified and the new fledgling church to be further unified.
It is my hope that you will see the power of Habits, evaluated the habits of your life, and make the necessary changes to start to develop new habits so that when you face the trials and temptations of life, you will respond in ways that glorify God, spread the Gospel, and unify the body of believers that you belong.
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