Changing Old Habits

Tom Moore

There was a nurse who patients were participants in a medical study. One of the requirements of the study was that her patients had to write down everything that they ate and drank over a course of several weeks. Then she drew their blood and sent it to a laboratory for evaluation. Then every other month her patients had an ultrasound on their carotid arteries.

Once patients saw for themselves the evidence of what their freewheeling eating habits were doing to their blood, internal organs, and the lining of their arteries, lifestyle changes took place immediately. The "before" and "after" clinical charts of patient after patient were amazing.

People instantly walked away from smoking, their use of alcohol, foods that were laced with sugar and fats, and their sedentary lifestyle. When people discovered how quickly they could reverse the decay of their bodies with proper nutrition and exercise, they took charge of habits that had slowly developed over many years. Laziness and procrastination vanished. In fact, the nurse said that her own life had changed from seeing what her patients were accomplishing.

There is nothing so compelling as when we discover something that works. Paul said, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). A life of sin brings sure spiritual death. Realizing the gospel is God's power unto salvation (Rom. 1:16), and that not obeying the gospel brings eternal separation from God (2 The. 1:7-9) - should we not change from our old habits of sin and obey the gospel? If more in our day realized what sin does to them - they would change old habits!