The word “habit” is an interesting word. You can have good habits or bad habits, but is it good or bad to have habits? As I read this excerpt from “The Screwtape Letters”, for what is I think my fourth time, the concept of habits stood out and convicted me most. Something new stands out each time I read any of these letters, and it always teaches me something new, as only the best books can. In this letter, Screwtape points out that when religious duties become habits, they become stale, and before we know it, we have deceived ourselves into thinking that our spiritual state is fine despite the reality of its gradual decline. I would add here that I struggle with this in my daily life. It is easy for my religious habits to become simply concerned with outward appearances. It sometimes gets to the point where it isn’t even about God anymore… and this almost invariably breeds hypocrisy in my life.
My other realization about habits is that when we refer to our spiritual disciplines as habits, we are already attaching a sort of negative connotation to them. Habit in itself, even when referring to good ones like brushing your teeth or doing your homework, does not usually sound like something fun or something to be looked forward to. Does doing our devotions, praying, or going to church need to be put in the same category as exercising, taking showers, or calling our mothers? I wish it weren’t that way.
This part of the letter raises questions for me. Is it bad, then, to do things out of habit? If I must force myself to read my Bible, would it be better for me not to do so? Can a good habit become a bad thing merely by becoming a habit? I know that in a best case scenario we simply want to do our “religious duties”. Psalm 40:6 says, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.” God wants our attention and our listening ears, our whole being, if possible, rather than habitual offerings from a hard heart. But at what point to we stop? From my own experience, I think that God would rather have me read my Bible, even if it is out of habit. And often, I enjoy it very much once I am started. He speaks to me even if I am reluctant or lazy.
Screwtape says, “In this state, your patient will not omit, but he will increasingly dislike, his religious duties. He will think about them as little as he feels he decently can beforehand, and forget them as soon as possible when they are over.” Habit or not, we can all fight the devil by choosing to think more about our “religious duties” as a vital and connected part of the rest of our lives.
Very good thoughts. And I agree, even if we are reading our bible as a monotonous habit, we are still reading it. Even if you sharpen the blade of a knife out of habit, it is still sharpened. Likely, not as well as if it were your joy in life, but it is sharpened.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was in church (I think it was this summer) when the pastor proposed this. For those of us who do not want to pray, or read our bibles, we ought to pray this prayer. "Lord, I do not love you. I do not want to love you, but I want to want to love you." Or perhaps, "I do not read my bible, I do not want to read my bible, but I want to want to read my bible." You get the picture. God will answer your prayer, persistence is among one of the most important things when it comes to prayer and bible reading.