Text: 2 Chronicles 29:1-24
By: Bro. Sunny Ogumor
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Those who indulge in these (smoking, Drinking Alcoholic beverages, eating junk foods) has formed bad habit
Bad habits are easy to develop, and often hard to deal with and remove. There are negative habits in our lives that need to be discarded. A negative habit is something you find yourself doing even though it is destructive ether physical, mentally, emotionally, relationally, or spiritually. It could be destructive to you or to someone else or to the society. Some persons will not agree that what they are into is a bad habit that will destroy them in the near future e.g., smoking. They will stand to defend the habit and even give examples of persons doing the same. But note that one man’s meat is another man’s poison.
Bad habits could be a personal problem, family, community, or a people. That is why you sometimes hear “that is how they behave; it is their way of life.
Elisha was mocked by a group of children who called him bald head, and he cursed them. 2 Kings 2:23-24.
The society is full of bad habits, but Christians are in the world but not for the world. Be honest, look at your life and like Paul, evaluate the thing you find yourself doing that you hate.
Sometimes it is the responsibility of; the individual to stop this habit, the parents, relations, neighbours, friends, the leaders, the church, the government. At some points in time everybody is a stakeholder to stop bad habits.
Israel, under king Ahaz, had developed many bad habits, and as we will see in our text, his son, Hezekiah set out to remove these habits from the people. Now, in Hezekiah’s actions we see some practical principles for removing bad habits from our life.
Hezekiah became king when he was 25 years old, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. Yes, they shut the doors of the entrance to the meeting hall, they put out the lights, and stopped burning incense and offering to the Lord. And they stored filthy things in the house of God.
The best time to deal with a bad habit is immediately it is noticed. To delay only allows the habit to get entrenched deeper in our lives. Hezekiah swung into action to correct 16 years of bad habits.
What did he do?
He opened the doors – Access to God; for those who derive joy in the gathering of the saints.
He repaired and renovated the doors – Priority 1, the house of God should be kept to standard.
Hezekiah selected Levites and requested personal cleansing before service. Purify and make yourselves free from sin and the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place. Nothing spiritual can come from a wilful life of sin. They shut the doors of the entrance to the hall put out the lamps and stopped burning incense and offering. Hezekiah removed the idols – the things that will keep us away from God must be removed from our view and sites.
Good things and good behaviours are admired by good people. Matt. 19:17
Commendations for doing good. Matt. 25:21 NIV “His master replied, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Hezekiah knows what is good for the Lord therefor we must remove all defilement, regardless of how small it is.
“Do not be a reason for a dirty house.”
Hezekiah understood the concept of purity – purify yourselves and the house of God.
Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. He returned to the practices of David his father.
After cleansing the house of the Lord Hezekiah began to worship God like his father David. 2 Chron. 29:20-24, 27, 28, 31,36.
Bad habits can bring us down we need to replace them with good habits. King Hezekiah has encouraged us to do so. He was able to restore the whole Israel to normalcy.
Paul, when dealing with bad habit in the church in Corinth said 1 Cor. 6:12 RSV “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything. The body should never to be made an instrument of sin. We must guard against sins becoming so embedded in us that they become habits. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid.
Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” Benjamin Franklin
Man is a thinking mammal, use your thinking faculty to decern what is a good habit and what is a bad habit. James 1: 14-15. When we have bad habits, we must ask ourselves “Is it worth the trouble?” Over speeding, where do you always hurry to. Overspending, must you spend all your wage every month? When you retire from active service what will you eat?
King Solomon continues the desires of David until – he begins to intermarry. 1 Kings 11:1-4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. “Once the heart is turned the feet will follow”
Some persons are very much like King Solomon they have affiliates with unimaginable thing that turns their heart away from real worship of God. In their business, in their places of work, in their neighbourhood.
Do not leave your child behind
Prov. 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Pr 23:13 Do not withhold correction from the child: for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
Some bad habits during church meetings.
Frequent absenteeism in the church gathering and meetings.
Always late to church services.
Always running away before the closing prayer.
Always sleeping during church service.
No participation in singing.
Sitting down without challenges when others are standing or kneeling down.
Always sitting with your friend to tell stories during church services.
Those few habits stated above bind you slowly and make you inactive in church thereby reduce or kill your spiritual life. They are works of the flesh and opposed to the works of the spirit.
Ecclesiastes 5:1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
Philippians 4:8 whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report; think on these things.
Conclusion:
As from today, put all your bad habits in the waste bin.
May the good Lord ad blessings to His words in Jesus Name, Amen.
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