What is a habit? A habit is an automatic behaviour of our mental and physical structure; in other words, we don’t need to think before doing it—it’s something already installed, programmed within us.
Why do we form habits?
Because it’s a way to save energy in the brain and avoid exhausting it.
The problem arises when these habits are bad or become addictions, and since we don’t need to think before doing them, these habits become acceptable. We exercise our habits automatically and don’t even notice it, which is why addictions can take hold, dulling us and destroying our lives.
Paul, writing in 2 Corinthians 10, says:
4 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
Strongholds were places where prisoners were kept. We need to use God’s weapons to destroy these strongholds in our minds—these chains that keep us bound.
Our habits reveal who dwells within us, and if we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19)
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own”
1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV
We need to reveal through our habits who dwells in us.
The words “habit” and “inhabit” come from Latin, referring to dwelling or possessing.
Jesus, the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14).
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 NIV
Because He dwelled among us, Jesus lived like us and had habits too. However, He taught us that it is possible to change mental patterns, automatism—the things we do without thinking.
Today, I want to show you how to change brain constructions. What are the five pillars in the formation of addictions and habits.
If you understand this, you’ll be able to change any habit.
1 – First pillar : habits and addictions are formed by loves.
Our habits reveal our loves. The raw material of habits is love. For example, if I love something, I might have the habit of doing it without thinking twice about it, like exercising, watching football games or eating sweets after dinner.
Loves form habits. For example, I used to love watching soap operas when I was young, but not anymore.
We stop sinning and start obeying because a new love invades our lives. This is a great truth: we exchange addictions for habits when we change our loves and reposition them.
If we love God as He calls us to do, and He is first in our lives, we will reorganise our lives according to Him.
We are changed by love when we change the placement of our loves, placing God above all things and loving our neighbour as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).
By repositioning our loves, we can change—addiction is a misplaced love.
When we find something better, like the story of the pearl of great value (Matthew 13:45-46), we sell everything because we’ve found something more valuable. How do we change a habit? By finding something with greater value and loving something better, that’s when we decide to really change.
2 – The second material or pillar our brain uses to create habits is anguish.
The fear of losing something makes us change. Many of our automatic behaviours, habits, and addictions today result from the anguish we’ve experienced throughout life, the traumas, wounds, and bad experiences.
For example, if I have a trauma of rejection, I may develop an addiction to validation. When something is missing, and I have the anguish of not having it and this may create a trauma; this trauma generates a habit in me.
“I’ll never go through that again,” we tend to say, and we condition our lives to avoid the pain that once hurt us.
For example, people who experienced hunger in the past may overeat or constantly think about food. Addictions like smoking, drinking, drugs, and pornography often enter a person’s life as an escape from suffering.
Doctors working with people who want to quit smoking say that 80% of smokers want to quit, and 50% have tried several times. A treatment that is often effective is raising awareness of the losses in health and finances the patient faces because of their addiction. This motivates many to stop. However, for others, it’s only when they get seriously ill, with heart disease for example, and the doctor says, “If you don’t quit smoking, you will die.” The anguish of dying then makes people stop smoking.
When the fear of losing becomes greater, a person changes.
This is a divine mechanism called repentance.
Repentance is an anguish, a sadness that changes and transforms us. So, if you want to change, destroy addictions and build habits, you need to use anguish to your advantage. You need to feel the pain of losing something, even if that is losing peace with God if you continue in addiction.
The anguish of losing God’s presence in your life, the fear of losing the fullness of life with God because of an addiction or behaviour that isn’t God’s will, this anguish can move you.
Maybe because of pornography, you’re about to lose your marriage, your children, your health, your purpose. Use anguish for God’s glory.
We need to use anguish to change our will and do God’s will. If I really want to change my habits, I need to use anguish.
We are experts at swallowing anguish, ignoring it, or distracting ourselves when we feel it. We turn to food, sweets, travelling, or our phones to distract ourselves from anguish, not letting it fulfil its purpose.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, facing the moment of imminent crucifixion, Jesus said:
“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Matthew 26:38
Anguish is necessary. We feel pressed, and the oil inside us needs to be extracted through anguish. Gethsemane means “oil press”; the olive needs to be squeezed for the oil to come out.
So, I need love to change, but I also need anguish to change.
3 – The third material or pillar in the construction of addictions and habits is attribute.
Attributes are the things we receive, the baggage we carry. Many of our habits are related to the baggage we inherit genetically or receive in early childhood. Most of our automatic behaviours, our habits, were not our choices.
We didn’t choose to like certain things or to do things in a certain way— some of our habits are attributes that were placed within us. I don’t say this to foster a sense of victimisation, but we need to take responsibility for the baggage we’ve received.
You didn’t choose what you’ve received, but you can choose what to do with it.
From our parents, we inherit genetic traits, sometimes even a predisposition to bad habits, which some call epigenetic. But I want to tell you today that science says what the Bible has been saying for thousands of years: Genetics is not destiny. If your family struggled with addictions, by the power of God, you don’t have to be a slave to that same addiction.
Christ Jesus gives us all the attributes we need to change any habit and destroy any addiction.
We are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are children of God (John 1:12-13)
To eliminate certain unwanted attributes, I need to understand my history so that I may come to understand what needs to change. I need to know my inherited attributes and the attributes I’ve received in Christ.
So, revising: Loves, Anguish, Attributes.
4 – The fourth ingredient or pillar that our brains use to create habits and addictions is our routine .
Why routine ? Because a habit has a triad—“a habit is a formula our brain automatically follows: When I see CUE, I will do ROUTINE in order to get a REWARD.”
Picture 1 and 2
We are ritualistic beings.
We are made to have a routine, and when our routine isn’t the right one, we keep on repeating the wrong patterns.
A habit is an automatism, so if I don’t have a different routine, I will keep on repeating what’s already installed as automatic.
routine are so important that even God has a routine. God could have created everything in one day at the beginning, but He didn’t. He programmed and organised it into seven days.
God created a weekly routine with seven days, prioritising the division of morning and evening and including time for rest in His schedule.
In the Old Testament and throughout the trajectory of the people of God, there was a strong emphasis on establishing calendars with days and feasts that marked a culture, creating memories and habits.
It’s important for you to be more like our creator, organised in your routine. This forms habits. If you want to change a habit, you need a routine aligned with God’s routine.
A routine creates habits, a routine destroys addictions—you need to be responsible with your routine.
So, revising: Love, Anguish, Attributes, Routine.
5 – Number five, the most powerful element or pillar in the creation and changing of habits is our environment.
Nothing shapes a habit, and nothing destroys an addiction like the environment around us.
We aren’t as free as we think we are—we are slaves to the environments we are in. For example, if you’re in a place that’s 40ºC (104ºF) with no air conditioning, do you have the choice not to sweat? No, you can’t just decide, “Today, I don’t want to sweat. I don’t want to have the habit of sweating anymore.” You can’t choose the reaction your body will have to the environment.
Our environment generates our reactions.
Let me show you how this relates to the gospel—because the most powerful thing God gave us wasn’t just a message but an environment. Through the blood of Jesus, the veil of the temple was torn, and now we have access to the Holy of Holies. The gospel is access to a new environment and in it we are transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” II Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
Our brain is designed to contemplate. Inside our brain, we have mirror neuron programmed to imitate what they see, to imitate the environment around them.
1 “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers.” Psalms 1:1
The advice we follow determines the paths we walk, and the paths we walk determine the tables we sit at, and the tables we sit at transform us into who we are.
Therefore, if we want to be happy, we need to delight in the place of meditation, in exposure to the Lord’s environment, and be like a tree planted by streams of water.
If you need to change, change your environment in a very practical way- design your environment in a way that leaves no choice to sin. Yes, shape your environment by changing what’s on your phone, your room, your marriage, your finances, your group of friends, everything!
Make sin impossible for you. Jesus said,
“If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out; if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Matthew 5:29-30).
What He was saying was not an encouragement to self-mutilation. Sin should not be an option for you, so design your environment—even if that involves removing important things, like what you see or touch—you cannot leave the possibility of sin in your environment.
Willpower is weak (Matthew 26:41), which is why Jesus teaches us to surrender it, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10) because my will is almost worthless.
Trust in God’s will, not yours. That’s why, in the agony of Gethsemane, Jesus said,
“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
God’s will is good, mine is not; that’s why Paul writes for us:
“Present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, and not to conform to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may experience God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2
The worst thing is to trust in our own will and not His. Trust in God’s environment, in His glorious presence—expose yourself to the right environment.
Create a healthy environment; we need to create a welcoming environment for God’s presence in our homes. Do you want to change? Then change your environment—that is extremely powerful.
Loves, Anguish, Attributes, Routine, and Environment.
May God bless and keep you!