To Break Bad Habits

[Daily Devotional]

To Break Bad Habits 

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new. 2 Cor. 5: 17. 

Through the power of Christ, men and women have broken the chains of sinful
habit. They have renounced selfishness. The profane have become reverent,
the drunken sober, the profligate pure. Souls that have borne the likeness
of Satan have become transformed into the image of God. This change is in
itself the miracle of miracles. A change wrought by the Word, it is one of
the deepest mysteries of the Word. We cannot understand it; we can only
believe, as declared by the Scriptures, it is "Christ in you, the hope of
glory" (Col. 1: 27). . . . 

Renouncing all that would hinder him from making progress in the upward way
or that would turn the feet of another from the narrow path, the believer
will reveal in his daily life mercy, kindness, humility, meekness,
forbearance, and the love of Christ. 

The power of a higher, purer, nobler life is our great need. The world has
too much of our thought, and the kingdom of heaven too little. 

In his efforts to reach God's ideal for him, the Christian is to despair of
nothing. Moral and spiritual perfection, through the grace and power of
Christ, is promised to all. Jesus is the source of power, the fountain of
life. 

Let us make God's holy word our study, bringing its holy principles into our
lives. Let us walk before God in meekness and humility, daily correcting our
faults. . . . Peace and rest will come to you as you bring your will into
subjection to the will of Christ. Then the love of Christ will rule in the
heart, bringing into captivity to the Saviour the secret springs of action.
The hasty, easily roused temper will be soothed and subdued by the oil of
Christ's grace. . . . 

In humble, grateful dependence he who has been given a new heart relies upon
the help of Christ. He reveals in his life the fruit of righteousness. He
once loved himself. Worldly pleasure was his delight. Now his idol is
dethroned, and God reigns supreme. The sins he once loved he now hates.
Firmly and resolutely he follows in the path of holiness. 

>From God's Amazing Grace - Page 106