Habits

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 20th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Proverbs 6:10:

“A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,…” (like a thief)

Then we go to Luke 4:16:

“So He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” 

We want to speak today about habits. There are good habits and there are bad habits. Discipline is absolutely vital for a Christian to succeed. You see, a good farmer will check his crop of corn or maize or wheat every day. A poor farmer will check his crop maybe once a week, and it could be his downfall. I remember like yesterday, we had a neighbour who came and farmed very close to us. He was a wonderful man but he came from a different district. He was a sugar cane farmer, a very successful one and a very good one, but he started to grow seed maize, a very technical, tricky crop to grow. One day, I was driving down near his farm and I stopped and looked over the fence and I saw that there was an infestation of cut worm. Now cut worm had just arrived overnight and they were decimating his crop. I phoned him. I said, “Did you check your maize yesterday?” He said, “No, I have been away for a few days. I said, “Please get there quickly.” And he got there and he saw that this infestation of cut worm was literally decimating his crop. We got the spray out and we were able to save his crop. You need to check your crop every single day if you want to succeed as a good farmer. 

Now, the Lord Jesus was extremely disciplined. Many times His disciples tried to find Him. “Lord, where have You been? The crowds are waiting for you.” Where had He been? That’s right, up the mountain, spending time getting instructions from His Heavenly Father, as Jesus continually did, a good habit. I want to say to you today if you are taking a lot of strain in your life, have a good look at what your habits are like. You need to maybe spend more time praying and less time speaking. You need to maybe get up earlier in the morning, and go to bed earlier at night. You maybe need to read your Bible more intentionally. Just show me a man’s Bible and I will show you how much time he spends with God, reading the Old Testament and the New Testament systematically, every single morning, and then you need to meditate. Sit quietly with that cup of coffee, that cup of tea, and just let your soul meditate. You will find that your life will become totally different.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.