Bible Reading: Genesis 25:29-34 Follow God’s example in everything you do. Ephesians 5:1
DO YOU HAVE any bad habits? Check out the list below. Do you
| _____ | chew your fingernails? | _____ | put things off until later? |
| _____ | chew your toenails? | _____ | eat too much? |
| _____ | chew carpenters’ nails? | _____ | eat too little? |
| _____ | interrupt when others are talking? | _____ | watch too much TV? |
| _____ | pull out your hair? | _____ | pick your nose? |
| _____ | pull out someone else’s hair? | _____ | pick someone else’s nose? |
| _____ | grind your teeth? | _____ | smoke cigarettes? |
| _____ | insult people? | _____ | smoke cigars? |
| _____ | forget to say please or thank you? | _____ | smoke old tires? |
| _____ | lose your temper? | _____ | 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 check any of the bad habits in the list above? On the lines below, list three bad habits you’d like to get rid of:
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Choose one of the above 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.”
