The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”. When we think about our habits, we automatically concentrate on the bad ones, but there are excellent habits as well. As a matter of fact, I heard a psychologist once say that we can’t just stop a bad habit; we need to replace it with a good one. I have tried that and it does work.
Are we really what we repeatedly do? in a very real sense that rings true. Our habitual acts soon become part of our lifestyle and others do identify us by our lifestyle. Are you wondering what this has to do with our Christian life and our witness? Let’s look at it and see.
When we accept Christ as our savior, The Holy Spirit doesn’t just tell us to sin no more; He guides us to do what is pleasing to God instead. The Holy Spirit prompts us to do those things Paul calls “fruit of the spirit” instead of worldly pursuits. making those nine actions habits and our lifestyle will lead others to see our family resemblance with our heavenly Father and they will know who we are – excellent as a result of His mercy and grace. Those nine actions (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) will form our Christian identity once they become part of our lifestyle.