The Creeping Influence of Bad Habits
(The following illustration has applicatoin for both "bad" habits and "good" habits alike. As such, this illustration will appear in the database twice, with alternative applications dealing with both types of habits.)
Bad habits can kind of creep up on you. You're fine. You're handling them. Until ... you're not.
Imagine that you have an ice cube sitting on the table in front of you. The room is cold and you can see your breath. It is currently twenty-five degrees. Ever so slowly, the room begins to heat up. Twenty-six degrees. Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. The ice cube is still sitting on the table in front of you. Twenty-nine degrees. Thirty. Thirty-one. Still, nothing has happened. Then, thirty-two degrees. The ice begins to melt. A one-degree shift, seemingly no different from the temperature increases before it, has unlocked a huge change. [Effects] are often the result of many previous actions, which build up ... unleash[ing] a major change. This pattern shows up everywhere. Cancer spends 80 percent of its life undetectable, then takes over the body in months. Bamboo can barely be seen for the first five years as it builds extensive root systems underground before exploding ninety feet into the air within six weeks.
Bad habits are a lot like those stealthy bamboo shoots. They seem to be nothing to be worried about. They don't seem to be having any significant impact on your life or well being. Until one day, you can't keep them underground any longer. The negative impacts burst through the surface, and bam! Suddnely you have a 50 foot tall bamboo stalk casting shade over your entire existence.
Don't be duped. Those small, bad habits can turn into serious problems quickly. That is why we are cautioned by Scripture to take mastery over our attitudes and action before they take mastery over us.
"All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything" (1 Corinthians 6:12, ESV).
"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:7-9, ESV).
The Mysterious Blessing of Purpose
Wolves are fascinating creatures, and even more so due to the recent changes to their population in North America.
In 1995, grey wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park. Knowing that wolves are predators and typically at the top of the food chain, common expectation was that elk, beaver, rabbit, and other prey populations might decrease due to the predatory prowess of the wolves — you know, the whole "circle of life" effect.
But the reverse has actually been the case. There was only one beaver colony in the park in 1995, but by 2019 there were nine colonies! What possible impact did the reintroduction of wolves have on the beaver population? Well, as the wolves chased the elk they began moving around more, spreading throughout the park. This disbursement of the elk population allowed beavers and other animals to enjoy a greater share of the vegetation they need to eat for survival. And since the beavers were now able to not just survive, but to thrive, they built more dams, which in turn has benefitted the fish, bird, and bear populations.
... [T]he reintroduction of wolves continues to astonish biologists with a ripple of direct and indirect consequences throughout the ecosystem. ... It is like kicking a pebble down a mountain slope where conditions were just right that a falling pebble could trigger an avalanche of change. — Doug Smith, a wildlife biologist in charge of the Yellowstone Wolf Project
You see how this works? What was feared as an irritant, a disruptor, a destroyer, was actually a catalyst for immensely powerful and positive change.
Just as wolves have their place in the economy of wildlife ecology, they likewise have their place in the economy of the Kingdom.
For example, Saul of Tarsus perceived the bold and fearless testimony of Stephen as a wolf, an irritant, a disruptor, a threat to the status quo of Jewish life and culture. So he had him stoned to death. Yet in doing so, he didn't protect anything. Instead, Acts 8:1-4 tells us:
"On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison."
YET! ...
"Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went."
This great irritant, this great disruption to the status quo, proved instead to be the catalyst for the early believers to be scattered, and for the Gospel message to be spread and thrive throughout the entire known world.
On the flip side of that coin, the Church perceived Saul of Tarsus as a wolf, a great irritant, and disrupter of the survival of the fledgling Church. Yet the events following the death of Stephen became part of the amazing story of the transformation of Saul of Tarsus into the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, whose life and ministry remains one of the greatest catalysts for the growth of the Church even to this day.
Brothers, in this world there WILL be wolves. Don't run in fear from them. Embrace the struggle. See the struggle as potential for great personal, and even corporate growth. Just as the introduction of the wolves into the park forced the animals to spread out, the disruption brought greater growth and potential. So, along with that Yellowstone biologist, choose to see the potential from the struggle with disruptors as "a ripple of direct and indirect consequences throughout the ecosystem."
It's Time for a Trim and a Shave
Imagine a customer at a barber getting his hair and beard trimmed when the barber and patron strike up a conversation. They talk about many things and various topics, and for a moment, the topic shifts to God.
The barber says, "I don't believe God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.
"Well, just look out there in the street. What happens out there shows that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, why are there sick people? Why are there abandoned children? If God exists, surely there would be no sickness or suffering. I can't imagine a loving God would let all this happen."
The customer pauses to think for a moment, but doesn't respond, not wanting to start an argument. The topic changes, the barbar finishes his work, and the customer leaves the shop.
He no sooner walks out the door than he sees a man on the street with long, unkempt hair, dirty and tangled, with an untrimmed beard. The man looked dirty and neglected.
The customer turns on a dime and marches back into the shop, "You know what? Barbers don't exist!"
The barber objects, "How can you say that? I am here, and I am a barber. And I just cut your hair!"
"No!" the customer retorts boldly, pointing out the window. "Barbers don't exist, because if they did, there would be no people with long, dirty hair and untrimmed beards like that man out there."
"But barbers do exist!" the barber argues. "What you see is their own fault; why don't they come to me?"
"Exactly!" the customer agreed. "That's the whole point!"
The argument that God must NOT exist because ugliness and evil does, is nothing but a strawman fallacy of the ultimate proportion.
In this ugly, unkempt, messy, stinky, dirty world, God indeed exists. Yet it is up to US to seek Him. And once we seek Him, it is up to US to actually settle into His chair to let Him conform us into a more beautiful image ... into HIS image!
"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13, ESV).
"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV).
"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Romans 8:29, ESV).
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2, ESV).
"And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Colossians 3:10, ESV)."And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24, ESV).