7 Lessons Learned While Building a Habit

I am working on building better habits. Bad habits seem to develop with little effort, and that is where they get there power. There is no conscious desire to start a bad habit. We just find something that we like (and shouldn't), and we keep doing it because we like it. For example, I eat when I get stressed. A lot of the time, I don't realize that I am feeling stressed or how much I am eating. The trigger-response automatic thinking drives habitual behavior.

The difficulty in forming good habits is that it requires conscious thought. One must decide to change, to think differently, and to overcome deeply ingrained patterns. You have to think about the new "habit" a lot. Old habits die hard (especially the worst ones). New habits are not easily formed, especially when they we haven't lost all our old desires. When the old desires and new desires meet on the battlefield of our wills, it is like to storm fronts clashing. Thing are bound to get tossed around.

But if we hold our ground, we'll weather the storm. The more we nurture the new desires that are shaping the new habits we want to form, the weaker our old desires will become. Be warned: old desires are like vampires in that they suck the life out of you and aren't easily killed (just when you think you laid that sucker to rest, he springs to life again). And if old habits are vampires, new habits are wild flowers--beautiful, but easily trampled on.

One of the new habits I have been working on relates to Bible reading. After years of following a daily Bible reading plan, I fell out of the habit. And for over a year, my Bible reading revolved around preparation for messages. At first, I didn't recognize what was happening. Then one day, I realized I was spiritually anemic. My heart and my faith were growing cold. I was discouraged and on the verge of despondency.

Yet in the midst of it all, God awakened me to an renewed desire for him. I knew that if I wanted to rekindle my faith, I would have to get into the Word and let the Word get into me. I had experimented with Dr. Grant Horner's Bible Reading Plan a couple of years ago, but fell behind, got discouraged, and gave up. But a little over a month ago, I felt compelled to revisit it. After some consideration, I adapted Dr. Horner's plan. I went from his 10 lists to 12. I adjusted some of the lists, such as the Prophets. On Dr. Horner's list you read Isaiah through Malachi. I broke it into two lists: the Major Prophets (Isaiah-Daniel) and the Minor Prophets (Hosea-Malachi).

Here is some of what I have learned in the past 31 days.

1. You have to make Bible reading a priority. As Christians we should be committed to reading the Scripture. If we don't make it a priority in our life like food and air, it won't get done as often as we hope.

2. To make it a priority, you have to set aside time for it. In spite of my persistent prayers for more time, God has seen fit to give me the same number of hours in my day as everyone else. I had to make changes in my schedule to make time for reading the Bible. I have a little girl and didn't want to interfere with spending time with her, so I had to chose a time when she was asleep. I opted for early mornings because she has a tendency toward rising early. Staying up late and having to get up early doesn't work well for me. I don't feel right if I get less than six hours sleep. Getting up early meant I had to kill my evening ritual of watching t.v. to "unwind." Now, if I'm up past 10 p.m., I start getting really tired (and a little cranky). If you are not used to getting up early in the morning move your alarm clock away from the bed.

3. You need to have a plan. My reading takes about 45 minutes, when I am fully awake and engaged. Sometimes, I takes longer (especially if I doze off). I follow Dr. Horner's advice and read quickly, not so quickly that I can't remember what I reading, but I don't take a lot of notes either. My Bible reading is just that, not studying. Determine what plan you want to follow. There are tons of them available. There are even special Bibles that are divided into daily readings. Make sure you keep track of what you have read. Set aside plenty of time for your reading. Most plans don't take more than 30 minutes a day (even for slow readers). Here is a helpful chart to help you keep track.


4. Approach it as a joy, and not a burden. Sometimes, people are tempted to think of necessary things as a burden. If we aren't careful, we will treat "having to do our Bible reading" as a chore. It is kind of like getting socks (or underwear) for Christmas. Most kids know there necessary, but they prefer toys and fun stuff. The Bible isn't Christmas socks. It is through the Scripture that we come to know our Lord and Savior.

5. Give yourself grace. If you have to split your reading up or if you doze off, don't get discouraged. Your building a habit that goes against your natural inclinations. It takes time. Lots of time. God is gracious in his invitation. He already accepts you in Christ. Don't be afraid. If he is willing to be patient with Gideon (and numerous others in Scripture), he won't run out of patience with you.

6. Find a way to keep you accountable. I have been telling people (like you the reader) about my experiment. It keeps you motivated because you never know when someone will say, "How is your reading going?"
 
7. Don't break the chain. I read an article sometime back to talked about Jerry Seinfeld's secret to success. Ultimately, it was a simple commitment to daily practice--get a calendar, mark the days you practice with an "x", once you have a chain of "x"s don't break the chain.


In the end, what matters is that you get into the Bible. You can follow any plan. You can use an audio Bible. Stick with it until you couldn't imagine skipping a day. May the Lord bless your time in his Word.

Scripture Reading

You have heard the saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." While the truthfulness of that statement has never been adequately tested, it sounds pretty good. I'm surprised more Christian's have adapted to say, "A chapter a day keeps the devil away!" or "A chapter a day keeps the flesh at bay!" They're catchy phrases. However, just as a diet lacking good fiber, lean protein, and healthy carbohydrates isn't going to be overcome by the addition of a single (albeit daily) apple; a steady stream of temptation and tribulation aren't going to be overcome with a verse or two, or even a chapter.

We need to commit ourselves to read the Scripture daily. The more we read the better. Each verse is part of a chapter, each chapter is part of a book, each book is part of the canon (the books given by God). To rightly understand a verse, you must understand the context it was written in. Minimally, that means you have to read the chapter it is found in. Realistically, it means you are familiar with not only the chapter, but how the chapter fits into the book, and how that book fits into the larger storyline of the Bible.

It is never to late to start a Bible reading plan. There are dozens of them out there. I have been following Professor Grant Horner's plan. You can read about it here. Horner's plan consists of reading ten chapters a day. You can find a copy of his 10 lists here. Following this plan permits you to read through most of the Scripture at least twice, and some parts of Scripture several times more. For example, I have read through the book of Acts nearly nine times. I have read all of all of the New Testament (except John's Gospel) at least three times. I start my third trip through John tomorrow. It takes a bit longer to read through the Old Testament. I have read all of it once, and some of it multiple times. I read a chapter of Proverbs each day.

I'm not trying to brag. I have to work at keeping such a pace. Some days my reading takes me 30 minutes, others it takes an hour. Occasionally, I miss a day, but I always make them up. You don't want to get far behind when your reading 10 chapters a day.

The process of daily Bible reading helps you to learn your Bible better. A plan like Horner's helps you to see the big picture, as well as, the parts. Reading through the categories has helped me to see connections I hadn't seen before.

I have thought of altering the plan. I have consider add two more categories: the Minor Prophets and Revelation. Of course, Professor Horner's plan includes both of these, but they are in with other readings so you don't get to read them as frequently. I have also considered adjusting some of the categories so that it would be easier to multiple chapters in one book, rather than one chapter a day. I find it difficult to stop reading at the end of a chapter. But for now, I'm sticking with the plan.

 It may sound intimidating, but with some careful planning it can be done fairly easily. Whatever plan you chose, I hope you're working yourself through the Bible. As you do, it will work itself through you.