Recently,
German researchers released the notable results of a study of two groups of
people: those who seemed to have good self-control and those who didn’t. The psychologists studied the responses of
individuals in both groups to temptation.
They reasonably predicted that those who had good self-control would
resist desires more often than those with poor self-control.
The results of
their study, however, showed that those with good self-control were actually less
likely to resist temptation as they went about their daily lives. “How could this be? The answer is that people
with good self-control avoid temptations and problem situations, rather than
battling with them. Other research confirmed that self-control works most effectively
by means of controlling habits, rather than by using willpower for direct
control of one’s actions in the heat of the moment.”[1]
Self-control, then, begins with discipline. Discipline, “the disciple’s career.”
“Virtue is best achieved when self-control is exerted so as to
establish habits of good behavior…Virtuous habits may be more effective at
avoiding temptation than resisting it. The desires inside oneself cannot be
eliminated. (This is probably why many of the great saints of history described
themselves as terrible sinners. They knew that they had plenty of sinful
desires. But virtue is not the absence of desire for sin — it is the absence of
[committing] sin despite the desire to sin!)”[2]
Why bother citing research?
Do I think we need studies to support Scripture? No, but I do believe that careful, thorough,
honest research will always back up the Bible.
For example, surveys show that those most satisfied with their sexual
relationships are married men and women.
That children do best when they’re raised in stable two-parent homes
(two parent meaning a mom and a dad).
When I read results like that, I think, Of course they are. Of course
they do! That’s the way God commanded it
to be.
When I consider the evidence regarding discipline and consider
whether holiness is best cultivated by habit, I think of the O.T. prophet
Daniel. No doubt it was more difficult
to resist the rich food of the king at that first meal than it was later
on. Already as a young man, Daniel
disciplined himself, and his good habits continued through his old age. When commanded to pray to no one but the
king, Daniel didn’t even have to consider the command. Praying to God at morning, noon, and evening
was his custom. His habit. So habitual was he, in fact, that those who
ruled with him knew at what time they would find him on his knees.
When our first child was born a year after my husband and I were
married, I quit working outside the home.
Suddenly I was overwhelmed by what I judged to be my own inability to
raise our child and manage our home. A
friend referred me to FlyLady.net. I’ve
long since unsubscribed, but FlyLady taught me to establish good homemaking
habits that still help our home run smoothly.
At first I really had to force myself to lay out my clothes the night
before, get dressed to my shoes, make the bed before I left the room, swipe the
bathroom counter as I exited, donate clutter we no longer used…but now all that
stuff is automatic for me. Remember your
initial struggles with a bicycle or a computer keyboard? With enough repetition our minds are
remarkably able to convert difficult action into deft habit.
But self-control – Spirit
control – and discipline are necessary to commit to new habits, to establish holy habits.
What time will you be on your knees today?
