Rick Warren (August-04-2021) Daily Devotional: Your Habits Determine Your Spiritual Growth
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” 1 Corinthians 9:25 (NIV)
National Football League Quarterback Tom Brady won his seventh championship ring this year as the oldest player to appear in a Super Bowl. How did he get to be so good?
There’s a whole list of things Brady does to stay in peak performance mentally, physically, and emotionally, including drinking 20 ounces of water as soon as he wakes up every morning. He’s developed healthy habits that have paid off for him.
You grow when you develop good habits. This applies to every area of your life, including your spiritual growth. When you build good habits in your life, you’re going to have good character. If you have good character, you’re going to have a great destiny. Your character is the sum total of your habits.
The Bible says, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17 NIV).
You don’t get God’s blessing for knowing the right thing to do. You get God’s blessing for doing the right thing and making it a habit in your life. How do you build habits? Through repetition and practice. Study after study shows you have to do something—whether it’s exercise, diet, or a spiritual habit—every day for six weeks before it becomes a habit.
Doing a few days of study and then skipping a day and then repeating the pattern over and over again is like rolling up a ball of string and dropping it. You keep undoing everything you’ve gained every time you miss a day of Bible study.
You have to develop habits in your life that you’ll use the rest of your life that will help you grow and be strong. Successful people are just normal people who decide to develop good habits that stay with them for the rest of their lives. You determine your habits, and your habits determine you.
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:25 NIV).
The good habits you build in your spiritual life are going to pay off forever in eternity.
Talk It Over
- This time next year, how do you want to have grown spiritually? What will it take to get there? Write out a step by step plan to keep you on track.
- Too often we set goals with unrealistic timelines or expectations. You don’t have to get it all done this week! What is one small thing you can do every day that, over time, will make a difference in your spiritual growth?
- How does accountability with another person help you grow spiritually and in every other area of your life?
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