Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV)
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2 (NIV)
Habit: an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary | a particular practice, custom, or usage
Habits are the way we both live out and shape, or reshape, who we are. An emphasis on habits over goals focuses on shaping who we are and who we are becoming. Jesus didn’t have a lot to say about setting goals, moving towards them, and accomplishing them, but he had a lot to say, teach, and model about the habits that shape our lives.
One Christian Life, Habits versus Goals | Nathan Dean
HABIT 1: GENEROUS GIVING
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9: 6-8 (NIV)
Honor the Lord with your wealth, the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
Proverbs 3:9-10 (NIV)
Speak to the Levites and say to them: “When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering.
Numbers 18:26 (NIV)
HABIT 2: SERVING
And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 10:12 (NIV)
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people…
EPHESIANS 6:7 (NIV)
Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:28 (NIV)
Jesus wasn’t goal minded. He didn’t say – I’m going to heal 20 people today. He was mission minded. He had a habit of following teaching with action. Jesus had the habit of adhering to the mission, no matter what.
Jesus Never Set Goals; He Did This Instead | Neal Samudre