Bad habits are common. Whether it’s smoking, drinking too much, biting fingernails, or eating too much junk food, these behaviors can harm our health. While all those behaviors can be harmful, the real damage is done from within our hearts.
We interact with the world through our actions, and behind every action is a desire or intention. While some desires are healthy and good, others can negatively affect us and those around us. Many people excel at suppressing harmful desires and can stop a bad thought before it develops into a desire and manifests itself as an action. However, we ultimately should try to figure out why we get negative thoughts and feelings and try to change our hearts for the better.
We’re all imperfect and have weaknesses that can lead us to sin. Satan and his minions try to exploit these weaknesses, knowing exactly how to trip us up. We need to know what our weaknesses are and who the enemy is so we can best fortify the weak areas within ourselves and deploy the correct countermeasures to fight the temptations that will come our way.
To change ourselves for the better, we need to understand our primary motivation. Is it to become wealthy and comfortable? Perhaps, we are like an Olympic athlete and want to excel in everything we do. Is our main directive purely selfish or does it involve loving another as well? Our main goal should always be to get to Heaven. We shouldn’t just want to get to Heaven because we don’t want to suffer in Hell, but we should also want to get there because we love God and want to be with Him for all eternity.
It’s easy to lose our temper or have a lapse in judgment that causes us to say or do something we regret. It’s even easier if we don’t have all of our mental faculties after too many drinks or perhaps too many drugs. For instance, I can get “hangry” – the combination of hungry and angry – when I don’t get to eat on time. Everyone has triggers that can easily set them off, and it’s crucial to know how to best manage those triggers to avoid hurting someone we love.
Focus on the main priority: getting to Heaven and align your lesser priorities to support that main goal. Put barriers and obstacles in place to protect the weak areas you have in your life and work to learn more about what trips you up. By doing this, you’ll be less likely to hurt others and will grow into a guiding light that others will want to follow in their own journey to Heaven.
