The Cure for Bad Habits
Jeremiah 13:23
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”
Jeremiah asked whether an Ethiopian could change his skin? This seems like a foolish question as anyone knows that you can’t change the color of your own skin for that is how you were made. If the Ethiopian wanted to change the color of his skin, that would be physically impossible. He also asked whether the leopard could take his spots away. Again, a leopard in no way can remove its spots. Those spots are part of its makeup. Jeremiah asked these questions because he was trying to show Judah that they had bad habits that needed to change.
Changing your bad habits can be as difficult as changing the spots of a leopard. No matter who you are or what you do in life, you have habits that seem impossible to break. The one difference between changing the spots of a leopard and breaking your bad habits is that there is a way to overcome bad habits. The way to overcome bad habits will only come through Jesus Christ. There are three ways to cure bad habits.
First, there must be resistance to cure bad habits. Just like yielding to temptation will strengthen a bad habit, resisting the bad habit weakens it. God says in James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Though it may be difficult to resist your habit, it is still possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. When you yield to anger, then anger is strengthened, but resist anger by temperance and it is weakened. Lying is strengthened when you yield to it, but it is weakened when you resist it and tell the truth. Adultery and fornication are strengthened when you yield to them, but they are weakened when you resist them and practice abstinence. Whatever the sin is, it is only strengthened when you yield to it. It all comes down to a choice. You have a choice to yield and resist.
Second, you cure bad habits by educating yourself about the good habits. Romans 12:21 says, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” God says the way to overcome evil habits is to do good. Romans 16:19 says, “…I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” Notice, God is teaching that the wiser you are about good, the less power that evil has in your life. If you want to cure bad habits, then you need to be sure to learn as much about the opposite of your habit. The more you learn about the opposite of your bad habit, the better you will be able to do the good.
Third, you cure bad habits through prayer. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Your only hope of overcoming bad habits is to daily pray and ask for God’s strength to overcome them. Always remember that the power to overcome bad is found through Christ. 1 John 1:9 shows us that God is the One Who cleanses us from sin. You must ask God to help you overcome your bad habit.
Christian, you may think that your sin is like the spots on a leopard, but you have the power within you to overcome those spots of bad habits. That power within you is through giving your effort to overcome it, and then asking God to give you the added strength to do what you cannot do. In these three steps you will find that you can cure your bad habits.