If we want to grow in grace, we need to identify a grace and make a plan for how we will grow it.

For example, if my main spiritual goal is to develop and strengthen the grace of patience, I will:

• Listen to sermons on patience
• Read books and articles on patience
• Memorize verses about patience
• Meditate on God’s patience
• Talk to patient people and learn from them
• Think about how to exercise patience in various challenging situations
• Ask my wife how I can improve.

All that is good and necessary. But most of all, I need to simply start practicing patience in everyday life. As James Clear says in Atomic Habits:

“If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection. You don’t need to map out every feature of a new habit. You just need to practice it…You just need to get your reps in” (142).

Photography Experiment

A college photography experiment illustrates Clear’s point. Students were divided into a quantity group and a quality group. The quantity group would be judged on the amount of work they produced. The quality group would be judged on the excellence of their work. The former group would be graded by the number of photos they submitted (100 photos for an A, 90 for a B, and so on). The latter group would need to produce only one photo; but to get an A, it had to be a perfect image.

Which group produced the best photos?

Surprisingly it was the quantity group, the group that was actually out taking photos, while the quantity group spent most of the time studying and planning for the perfect picture.

In Motion v Taking Action

Clear says the difference is between being in motion and taking action. “When you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategizing and learning. These are all good things, but they don’t produce a result” (141).

“Action on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome. If I outline twenty ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. If I actually sit down and write an article, that’s action.” (141)

The quantity group improved their skills through practice, whereas the quality group simply theorized about perfect photos.

Clear’s conclusion is that “simply putting in your reps is one of the most critical steps you can take to encoding a new habit.” That’s because “Habit formation is the process by which a behavior becomes progressively more automatic through repetition.”

The most important question, then, is not, “How long does it take to build a new habit?” but “How many does it take to form a new habit?” That is, how many repetitions are required to make a habit automatic? (146).

In sum, whether you want better photos or better patience, the most effective form of learning is practice not planning.

See more Atomic Habits posts here.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Shona and I work out with weights 4-5 evenings a week. We’re not trying to become Mr & Mrs Universe; we’re just trying to maintain our health and fitness in our fifties.

A month or so ago, we realized that we were finding it harder and harder to actually get going at it, and we realized it was partly the way we were framing the workout. Leading up to it, we’d be sitting on the sofa after supper and one of us would look at the other and say, “I’m afraid we have to workout.” The other would reply, “I suppose so. We might as well get it over with.” Then afterwards while we were gasping on the floor after the warm down we’d be groaning and complaining about how hard it was and how glad we were that it was over for another day.

We eventually realized how draining this kind of talk was. It was creating dread, delay, and discouragement. So we decided to change up the way we were viewing it and describing it. Before exercise I now say to myself, “I now get a chance to strengthen my body and improve my physical/mental/emotional/spiritual health.” Or, “I get to extend my life now.” Afterwards we high-five and celebrate another completed workout and its benefits. We’re now much more motivated, it’s far easier to get started, we work out far harder, and there’s far greater post-exercise satisfaction.

I didn’t know at the time, but having read James Clear’s Atomic Habits, I now know that what we did was “reframe our habit.”

“Reframing your habits to highlight their benefits rather than their drawbacks is a fast and lightweight way to reprogram your mind and make a habit more attractive” (131).

Clear gives examples of how to reframe the painful sacrifice associated with saving — “I get to increase my future purchasing power and financial freedom.” Instead of saying “I am nervous” before a big game or a big presentation, we say, “I am excited and getting an adrenaline rush to help me concentrate.”

How many other spiritual activities could we reframe to make them more attractive?

From “I have to pray,” to “I get to enter the presence of God today and speak to him as my Father!”

From “I have to witness to my neighbor,” to “I get to tell my neighbor how to be eternally happy.”

From “I have to give money to the church,” to “I get to support God’s ambassadors bringing the good news to the world.”

From, “I have to suffer Christ,” to “I rejoice that I am counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ’s name” (Acts 5:41).

See more Atomic Habits posts here.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Many depressed people lose their ability to make decisions. They spend much of their days in a fog of uncertainty and indecisiveness, not knowing what to do next, or not being able to execute what they know they have to do.

I’d always thought it was impaired thinking that caused this, the impact of depression on the mind, but James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, identifies a closer connection with our feelings. Here’s a summary of his argument:

1. A craving is the sense that something is missing. It is the desire to change your internal state.

2. Desire is the difference between where you are now and where you want to be in the future.

3. Even the tiniest action is tinged with the motivation to feel differently than you do in the moment.

4. Our feelings and emotions tell us whether to hold steady in our current state or to make a change. They help us decide the best course of action.

It’s here that he makes the connection with depression:

“Neurologists have discovered that when emotions and feelings are impaired, we actually lose the ability to make decisions. We have no signal of what to pursue and what to avoid.” (129)

So the loss of feeling in depression, the dullness of emotions, is one of the major factors in contributing to indecisiveness and uncertainty in depressed people. Without emotions, it’s very difficult to know what to do next. There is no desire to change their internal state because they have little or no feeling.

That information not only helps us to understand depression better, it hopefully will also increase our sympathy for those with depression. We will condemn them less for their dithering and patiently wait for counseling, and possibly meds, to eventually restore their feelings and thereby their executive ability.

In the meantime, we often have to make decisions for them, we have to be decisive in the absence of their ability to do so. This kind of interventionist leadership takes great wisdom so as not to crush a person. Their input should still be considered, and the person helped to understand the decision, and even asked to approve it. This “team” or coached decision making, can give a sense of worth and value, and so also contribute to the healing process.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

 “Every behavior has a surface level craving and a deeper, underlying motive.” James Clear, Atomic Habits, 126.

Clear argues that every human desire or craving is just a specific manifestation of a deeper underlying motive” (127). Here are his examples of the deepest human motives and a corresponding surface level craving:

• Find love and reproduce = Using Tinder.
• Connect and bond with others = Browsing Facebook
• Win social acceptance and approval = Posting on Instagram
• Reduce uncertainty = Searching on Google
• Achieve status and prestige = Playing video games.

As Clear says, our habits “are modern-day solutions to ancient desires. New versions of old vices. The underlying motives behind human behavior remain the same” (127).

How then do we change our habits. Let me offer a Christian adaptation of James Clear’s approach:

Step One: Ask, “What underlying desire or motive am I trying to satisfy?” “What am I trying to achieve by this activity?”

Step Two: Which of these underlying desires are legitimate? Which are approved by God and permissible and which are forbidden and to be repented of?

Looking at Clear’s examples, I would argue that winning social acceptance and approval is forbidden. Of course we are to work at being cooperative and helpful to others; the problem is when the approval and acceptance of others becomes a foundational desire that takes precedence over seeking God’s approval and acceptance.

From a biblical perspective, I’d also want to mortify the deep desire to “achieve status and prestige.” That does not only need to be re-directed; it needs to be repented of.

Step Three: What additional motives does the Bible commend? What biblical desires do we need to build into our lives? Really, this is about constructing a Christian worldview. Some samples would be:

• A desire for the glory of God above all else.
• A desire for acceptance with God and approval by God.
• A desire to be like Christ.
• A desire to be a blessing to others by being used in their salvation and sanctification.
• A desire to strengthen and expand the Church of Christ.
• A desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
• A desire to serve God in my vocation.
• A desire to honor God with my money.

None of these desires come naturally to us. We need God to reconstruct us with these fundamental building blocks.

Step Four: Ask, “What legitimate activity can I engage in to satisfy these desires, to meet this need?”

This involves thinking of new activities for the new motives, but it also involves thinking of new activities for the old underlying desires that are good.

As I think it’s relatively easy to find activities that satisfy the additional motives highlighted in Step Three, let’s take some of Clear’s examples again and suggest some alternative actions that satisfy the deep motives and desires far better:

• Find love and reproduce = Marry a godly spouse and raise children for the Lord.
• Connect and bond with others = Join a local church.
• Reduce uncertainty = Trust God’s sovereignty.

So much of good biblical counseling is focused in this area. We are trying to help people get to “heart issues.” What are they really trying to achieve by their actions and words? And how can we help them identify wrong motives that must be repented of and right motives which are being pursued in the wrong way?

It’s about making the tree good and therefore making the fruit good (Matt. 12:33). We often say these words but don’t give people any help in achieving them. That’s where I found Clear helpful and challenging, although his incomplete system needs Biblical adjustment and supplementing.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Blogs

How to Crush Much Anxiety this Year
Ann Voskamp channels John Calvin!

10 Bible Verses to Lean Into When You Feel Stressed
“Money is tight. The schedule is crammed. Work is overwhelming. The list could go on and on and on. Let’s be honest—life can get stressful. And when you find yourself stressed (which will happen), lean into Scripture. Feel free to use these verses as a starting point.”

5 Myths About Seminary
“There are many good reasons to attend a biblically faithful seminary or divinity school, but there are also many false notions that have grown up around schools that prepare ministers.”

50 Pastors, 50 Lessons from 50 Years of John Macarthur’s Ministry
What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned from John Macarthur? 50 men respond.

5 Myths about Abortion
You’ll hear them so you might as well get ready for them.

3 Incredible Attributes of God and How They Fill Us With Peace
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”"

7 Ways to Stay Active in Ministry After Retirement
“There are countless ways to stay active in ministry after retirement. Here are seven that have emerged as clear priorities for those in our season of life

Books

Kindle editions of Word Bible Commentary series  are on sale. I have the whole set on Logos and always consult them. Although some of them are rather dry, and others are too concessive, for pastors with a good theological foundation, there are usually good insights into the biblical languages.

Seasons of Waiting: Walking by Faith When Dreams Are Delayed by Betsy Childs Howard $2.99.

Many of our habits result from imitating (consciously or sub-consciously) the habits of three social groups identified by James Clear in Atomic Habits (116-121). I’ll summarize them below with a couple of spiritual applications and implications underneath each one. And I’ll add a fourth influence that is sometimes the most powerful of all.

1. The close: The closer we are to someone, the more likely we are to imitate some of their habits.

Application

• Increase awareness of how your family and friends influence you.
• Although we cannot chose our family, we can chose our friends, and we ought to do so carefully.
• Stay close to Christ.

2. The many: When changing your habits means challenging the tribe, change is unattractive; but we can use a godly tribe to help us change our habits for the better.

Application

• Be especially sensitive to the impact of “majority opinion” on your judgment and opinions on truth and morals.
• Join a church community that will provide a weekly boost to godly habit formation via the impact of a godly tribe.

3. The powerful: Many of our daily habits are imitations of people we admire. We try to copy the behavior of successful people because we desire success ourselves. (121)

Application

• Beware copying someone (unthinkingly or deliberately) just because you admire them.
• If you are a leader, remember how influential you can be in people’s lives, both for good and evil, and steward this ‘talent’ well.

4. The heart: As Christians, we also want to identify the influential source of the sinful values and desires in our own hearts. Indeed, usually it is the most influential force.

We cannot just blame outside sources for our problems. But outside forces can certainly spark, ignite, and enflame these internal forces. We therefore need to be on guard both for the enemies outside and inside.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones