Chapel Blog
Change of Heart
by John Bishop, Director of Spiritual Formation
One of the great challenges we face in achieving our goals is inconsistency. Here’s the pattern: you lay out a good goal. “I’m going to work out!” “I’m going to do better in math.” “I’m going to spend less time on social media.”
Then you start with great momentum. Somewhere along the way, however, you miss a workout. Maybe you got injured and had to take a break, maybe you stayed out too late and couldn’t get up, or maybe something more enticing distracted you. Whatever the reason, now your perfect streak is an inconsistent one, the beginning of the end - it’s so much easier to stop altogether once you’ve practiced stopping once.
You start by getting all your homework done for math and a couple weeks later you’ve reverted to your old habits.
You deleted Snapchat and Instagram, but then a friend told you a story and you just had to see, so you reinstalled them…the beginning of the end!
This is true in our spiritual pursuits as well. You might come back from a beautiful Christmas service with a strong desire to be closer to God. You start praying every day and commit to being in church more. You make it a week, two weeks, a month, but inevitably something happens.
In Galatians 5:7 Paul asks what we wonder about ourselves in these situations, “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?”
James Clear wrote a book called Atomic Habits, in which he describes an important step of developing a habit being not action, but belief. He says, "Good habits can make rational sense but if they conflict with your identity, you'll fail to put them into action." His implication is clear, make the habit you’re hoping to build a matter of identity and you’ll be much more likely to succeed.
I think James Clear plagiarized Jesus whose entire sermon on the mount makes this point very clear (no pun intended…). Jesus made a series of statements like this, “you’ve heard that it was said, you should not murder, but I tell you, don’t hate…” (Matthew 5:21). Jesus is trying to help us see that obedience in God’s kingdom is first and foremost about a change of heart.
Jesus and James are saying the same thing, it’s not about what we do as much as it’s about what we believe. To change our habits, we first need a change of heart.
Perhaps before you finalize your goals for this year, consider what you believe. Maybe you’ve never been able to sustain a consistent pursuit of physical health because you really don’t believe the sacrifice is worth it. Maybe you struggle in math because you really don’t believe you need it. Maybe you don’t prioritize God and live in a way that honors Him because you really don’t believe He loves you.
Consider Paul’s words in Romans 10:9-10, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
In your goals this year, pursue a change of heart and your habits will follow. #goalhearted
Westminster Christian School, located in Palmetto Bay, Florida, is a private, college-preparatory school for children from preschool through twelfth grade.