Replacing Habits

In Luke 11: 24-26, Jesus is talking about an evil spirit leaving a man.  The spirit leaves and looks for some where else to live.  Not finding any place he returns to his old house and finds it empty, clean, and available.  He gets seven of his biggest baddest friends and returns.  (I know baddest isn’t a word.)   

This story kept coming to mind.  Regardless of what I was listening to somehow it would be referenced.  It finally occurred to me; maybe God was trying to tell me something.     

 Here some things I thought of. 

1.    If a bad habit isn’t replaced with a good habit – it will be replace with another bad one.  Example –stop smoking – start eating junk food.

2.    If a bad habit isn’t replace with anything.  Example stop drinking- one drink eventually it is worse than before. 

For me my sleeping habits are terrible.  Often I am up till the wee hours of the morning.  I’m tired - I will watch TV or put on a movie and guess what…I’m still tired and not asleep.  (Turning on the TV and going to sleep must be a man thing.)

I am thinking…it is time to replace my old bedtime habits with new healthy bedtime habits. 

All of this to say – when a scripture keeps popping out at you- meditate on it.  Read it over and over and pray about it.  There is something that needs to be learned from it. 

 ²⁴ “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ²⁵ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” Luke 11:24-26.  New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)