When we first begin to form a habit, we are highly aware of what we are doing. If we are cultivating habits of patience and godliness, we might consciously think, “Look at how patient and godly I’m being!” This kind of conscious awareness is a stage we must pass through. If we get stuck in it, we’ll become spiritual snobs.
Our spiritual life continually calls us to look within ourselves. When we do, we see that there are some qualities we’re still missing. Our god may be our little Christian habit—praying at bedtime or reading the Bible in the morning. “I can’t do that right now; it’s my hour with God,” you say. No, it’s your hour with your habit. Watch how the Father will upset these times if you begin to worship your habit instead of him. If this is the case in your life, recognize that there is a quality missing in you, and look for the opportunity to set things right.
The right thing to do with habits is to lose them in the life of the Lord, until every habit is so automatic that there is no awareness of it at all. Ultimately, the relationship between our souls and Christ should be very simple: it should be based on love. Love means that there is no detectable habit. You have come to the place where the habit has been lost in the bliss of unconscious devotion. If you are consciously holy, there are certain things you think you can’t do, certain places you feel you can’t go. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and Jesus was at home with God anywhere.
Where do you not feel at home with God? Let God press through in that place until you find him, and your life will become the simple life of the child.
