Why do so many good people do bad things? Why do so many fail to finish the race. Much of it is a matter of habit. Good habits make being good easy. Bad habits make being good impossible. 

If you want to start a habit or stop a habit the key is not to try really hard to do this or stop doing that. Trying hard is overrated. Not to say there is not a place for trying hard. But trying hard is like a spare tire. You need a spare tire because every now and then you have a flat. But, if you live your whole life on a spare tire, you are in trouble.

Developing a new habit starts with identifying one habit and working on one habit at a time. The next step is to find a friend to take the journey with you.

The next step is to find a way of escape.

Allow me to misquote a verse. See if you can catch where I got this wrong:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will provide supernatural strength so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

Did you catch it? Here’s the real verse. See if you can find the difference:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

Success is rarely about trying really hard. It is about finding the way of escape.

There is an old story that goes like this. A man walks down the street and falls in a hole. He hates falling in the hole, and resolves tomorrow he will not fall into the hole.

The next day he gets up and goes down the street again. Again, he falls into the hole. “This is awful! I hate this hole! I have got to stop falling in this hole!”

The next day he falls into the hole again. He resolves to try harder.

The next day he walks on the other side of the street. When he gets near the hole he thinks to himself, “I’ll just take a little peek inside.” He falls into the hole.

This goes on for several weeks. Each day he is a little bit more frustrated with himself for falling into the hole. Man, does he hate that hole.

Then, one day, he stumbles on to a solution. After this day he never falls into the hole again. What is the solution? He walks down a different street.

Snickers and apples

If you put a bowl of Snickers bars on the table in front of me, I would eat them. If you put an apple on the table in front of me, I would eat the apple. Eating an apple instead of Snickers is not about trying really hard to not eat Snickers. It is about what you put in the bowl. Find the way of escape.

If you can avoid the temptation, you can avoid the sin. Temptation is not a sin. However, every time we can avoid temptation we will avoid sin.

Josh Hunt, Break a Habit / Make a Habit (Josh Hunt, 2013).