Habits.
Written by Emily Ridyard
The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily represent the views of St Nic’s.
“You’ve got nothing else to do, so you might as well!” How many times have you heard this in the past few weeks? I know I’ve both heard and said it whilst we’ve been in lockdown. It’s the reason why I’ve started running again and why we’ve repainted the kitchen and why my Gran’s sorting out her garage. And to an extent, it’s true. Whilst I recognise the limitations and struggles associated with our current season, it is also true that this could be a great time to build habits that will serve us well in the weeks, months and years to come.
In his book ‘How to Pray’, Pete Greig tells us that it takes two months to form a habit. We’ve already been in lockdown for that long and who knows what the next few weeks could hold? This is a period of time we can consciously commit to building godly habits, while for most of us life is slightly quieter, our days are slightly emptier and our to do lists are slightly shorter. There are so many routines and habits we could be implementing into our lives, to help us become more like Christ and grow in our relationship with God. For each of us, this is something that looks different, depending on where we’re at in our current faith journey. It could be choosing to spend more time in worship, prayer or reading our Bible. Personally, I’m trying to get in the habit of having a quiet time every morning, to start each day in God’s word and in conversation with Him.
When it comes to picking habits we wish to form, we must consider prayerfully where the Lord is calling us to grow - this will be different for every one of us. We must also be realistic about what we can achieve - personally choosing to spend an hour in silent meditation at 6am every morning just isn’t going to work for me. We mustn’t feel intimidated or shamed by what we hear others are doing but instead take small steps towards lifelong habits. Pete Greig tells us the best way to form habits is to make them both easy and enjoyable. Naturally, forming habits requires discipline but habits that we enjoy and find easy are so much more likely to be habits that are long lasting.
Having said all that, our salvation doesn’t rest upon us creating good habits or rely on us having a successful prayer or Bible reading streak. Grace is always available to us and we are always in need. The challenge with developing new habits is that the world tells us it’s all about our hard work and determination and discipline whereas in reality we are weak and need God to help us. Our failure is inevitable, so if we build our confidence or faith on our successful habits, we will ultimately end up disappointed, embarrassed and guilty. Obviously Bible reading and prayer are really valuable in our relationship with God but they are not foundational.
The most helpful resource I’ve found in regards to understanding this balance is the principle of union and communion in Tim Chester’s book ‘Enjoying God’. In it, he explains that through the good news of the Gospel, we have union with God in Christ - something which is unchanging and we contribute nothing towards. Communion, however, is the genuine two way relationship between us and God, in which our contribution matters. We can understand this as the idea that we are not only saved from something but for something. We are saved by Christ from sin and death and guilt but we are also saved for a relationship with our heavenly father.
As we try to develop godly habits in this season, we must hold this tension in our hands. God longs for us to invest in our relationship with Him and grow to know Him better but our failure to do so doesn’t jeopardise our salvation. Learning these habits will be partially down to discipline but it should also be a joy to us as we grow to become more like Christ.
In the past few weeks God has been teaching me so much about these truths - I have seen the way forming a habit leads me to finding more joy in my quiet times and brings me closer to God. But I have also been reminded of my never ending need for grace and the unrelenting grace I have in Christ that is always there, regardless of how I feel, how much I achieve or how successful I’ve been.
What godly habits could you be developing in this period? In which areas of your life, do you need a reminder of Christ’s unending grace? How can you hold on to the balance of union and communion in the coming weeks?