Lent is the right time to break bad habits! Prayer and fasting can aid us in doing so!
Borrowed from https://www.crosswalk.com/slideshows/10-bad-habits-christian-women-need-to-break.html? Published Feb 06, 2023 by Cindi McMenamin Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
1. Judging Others Whose Convictions Differ from Our Own. Judging other Christians for their differing convictions is legalism, not love for others, which Jesus said is the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-39).
2. Gossiping by “Sharing” a Prayer Request. Food for thought: If you wouldn’t take it upon yourself to “share” another’s struggles with a third party if that struggling person was standing there next to you, don’t share it at all. One woman recently told me “I never ask for prayer openly. I have very few women in my life I will ask that know any details. I don’t want to offer my life as a target for judgmental gossip.” Ouch. Gals, let’s be more focused on “protecting” than “sharing.”
3. Offering Unsolicited Counseling. The best way to avoid this bad habit is to simply ask “Do you mind if I share with you some direction from Scripture?” and then keep it scriptural. There’s nothing worse than giving (or receiving) “Christian counsel” that is neither Christian, nor wise counsel.
4. Making Up or Twisting Scripture. Be careful that in your desire to encourage you don’t twist Scripture to apply to anyone who is willing to “receive a word from God.” Know Scripture. And share it responsibly.
5. Rushing in to Rescue a Situation. Another reason we seek God’s guidance first is because God may want someone to get downright desperate for Him first so they depend on Him rather than you or someone else. A friend of mine has learned to ask God “Is this interceding or interfering?” When you rush in to be someone’s emotional savior or last-minute help without consulting God first, you might actually be preventing that person from calling out to God, developing a prayer life, and learning a new dependence on Him to come through.
6. Being More Passionate – and Public – about Petty Topics than Our Faith. Instead of being loud and proud about what doesn’t really matter in the scope of eternity, be gentle, caring, and loving when it comes to what really matters, like sharing the love of Jesus with your friend.
7. Boycotting the “Bad” Instead of Supporting the Good. Why is it that a group of Christian women are often behind the protests, petitions, or boycotts of companies that are not upholding Christian values when those companies never claimed to be Christian in the first place? …try letting those secular companies know what they’re doing right, instead of pointing out what they’re doing wrong. Love and grace has always gone a lot further than bad-mouthing, bashing, and boycotting. I’m not saying “don’t take a stand for your values.” I’m saying “don’t expect non-Christians to share the same values you have.” Apart from Christ, the world will continue to act like the world.
8. Failing to Care for Our Bodies. Scripture says our bodies are temples, the dwelling place of the living God (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Yet I’ve heard far too many women joke about “getting a new body in heaven someday” as justification for failing to care for the bodies they have now. Christian women tend to look at women who are muscular, in great shape, or who exercise three to five times a week as “gym junkies” or as women who are “obsessed with their bodies.” Scripture implies anything in excess is a sin. And that includes eating and vegging on the couch, as well.
9. Belittling Ourselves. “You are fearfully and wonderfully made..” (Psalm 139:14) so your talk about yourself should reflect that you are created in God’s image, saved by the sacrifice of His Son, and being sanctified by His Holy Spirit. The old adage “God don’t make no junk” holds true here. Talk of yourself in light of your identity in Christ. It’s much more attractive.
10. Refusing to Get Real. Ever find yourself saying “I had no idea they were struggling” after finding a committed Christian couple is going through a divorce? That’s because we tend to keep up the façade that everything is fine when we’re struggling. The body of Christ is meant to be a family. When one member hurts, the whole body feels it (1 Corinthians 12:26). Family is there for each other, through the struggles, the pain, and the embarrassing mistakes. Let go of the “spiritual image” of having a perfect marriage and family and get real with one another about what you struggle with and where you need others’ support and prayer. When we get real with each other and learn to lift up each other’s burdens in a community that prays together and stays together, we will truly stand apart from the world, rather than mirror its statistics on divorce and depression.
1 John 1:8-10 If we go around bragging, “We have no sin,” then we are fooling ourselves and are strangers to the truth.
