The Key to the Future You Wantਨਮੂਨਾ

CHECKING OUR HABITS

The two most important parts on a map are where we are and where we are going. Today, let us examine ourselves and see where we are. Let's take an inventory of the habits in our lives and where they will take us if we continue down our current path. Let’s take a minute and think about our average day or week. What do you do consistently? What do we do daily that will make us healthy, what will make us wiser, what will strengthen our relationships, and what will improve our finances? What are we doing that will take us away from our goals?

Habits to check:

• Do we spend time daily in God’s Word?
• Do we spend time in prayer?
• Do we make church a priority?
• Do our words bring blessing or cursing?
• Do we have a habit of self-control or anger?
• Are our eating habits making us healthy or unhealthy?
• What exercise habits do we have?
• Will our current money-handling habits take us to or from the financial future we want?
• Do we have a habit of building or destroying relationships around us?
• What are our time management habits?
• Do we habitually make our family a priority?
• Do we habitually complain or give thanks?

If you don’t like your answers, that is okay. What has been doesn’t have to stay what is. You can choose today to make new habits. Like an athlete in training, we can choose to program new defaults and make new habits. If you mess up and the old habit happens again, or the new habit is missed, don’t give up; don’t bail on the new habit. If you ate a few helpings of cake, don’t give up and eat the whole thing. If you missed reading the Bible for a day, don’t give up on daily reading; get back up. Don’t let shame keep you down. So many people try to make changes and throw in the towel when they slip up. Just keep renewing the mind and working on taking steps that are going in the direction of your goals.

Greatness isn’t made in a moment. It is built over time. The moment just reveals what is already built. Don’t wait for things to happen to you; let's start making choices today that will take us to the future we want. Great results come from great habits.

As we close, I need to tell you that the most important habit you can have is putting God first and spending time with God daily. When we look at Jesus, He slipped away to spend time with God in prayer. Daniel was marked by spending time in prayer, and Paul made a custom of being in church. Joshua 1:8 tells us that meditating on God’s Word is part of what brings success. If we make a habit of putting God first, it will be a foundation the rest of our lives can be built on. God says that if we trust Him and follow Him, He will direct our steps. His way is the best way.

As you examine your habits today, I challenge you to ask God what habit(s) in you He wants to change. As you choose the direction of your habits, you choose the direction of your life. If you share the habits you want to make with a friend, they can help remind you along the way as you build the habits you want in your life.