Josh McDowell's Youth DevotionsSample

BAD HABITS. Do you have any bad habits? Check out the list below. Do you chew your fingernails? chew your toenails? chew carpenters' nails? interrupt when others are talking? pull out your hair? pull out someone else's hair? grind your teeth? insult people? forget to say please or thank you? lose your temper? put things off until later? eat too much? eat too little? watch too much TV? pick your nose? pick someone else's nose? smoke cigarettes? smoke cigars? smoke old tires? gossip about other people? other? Maybe you didn't check any of the items on the list above. Maybe you checked them all! Either way, you probably have at least one bad habit-something you do that is rude or thoughtless or undesirable. Nobody is totally free from bad habits. Sometimes our bad habits are sinful. Sometimes they're just annoying. And sometimes-as Esau found out (in today's Bible reading)-they can really be hurtful and costly. Whatever bad habit you may have, you don't have to be stuck with it. It may take a lot of self-control, but you can overcome it. In fact, that's one of the reasons God wants you to learn self-control. His Word commands us to "be clear minded and self-controlled" (1 Peter 4:7, NIV). God wants you to be like him. He is always in control of himself and of the universe he has made. And no matter how strongly rooted your bad habits may be, God is able and willing to help you overcome them. He will help you, through the power of his Spirit, to learn and exercise self-control. REFLECT: Did you have any of the bad habits in the list above? Think of three bad habits you'd like to get rid of. Choose one of them and start asking God for help to use self-control in overcoming that problem. PRAY: "Father, you know that I'm weak in the above areas. But you are strong. Please help me to overcome my bad habit... in your strength."