Leveraging the science of habit for knowing God

He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read. - Luke 4:16

I'm a sucker for self-improvement books. One of the big topics in recent years has been "habit". The power of habit. It takes a lot of energy to make decisions, so the writers all tell us the secret is to put good habits on autopilot. Do what you need to do without having to think. That leaves energy for real thinking when it's necessary.

I was reading an article recently which talked about another way to think about this. Default settings. Opting in vs opting out. Make the default settings the best. So instead of signing up to be an organ donor, make it the default. If you don't want to, you have to opt-out. Instead of signing up for a 401k, make people who don't want it, opt-out.

Participation rates increase dramatically. Often, we decide it's not worth the effort to change the setting today.

It might be worth thinking about some of your default settings or habits.

Do you habitually look for the downside vs. looking for the upside?

Do you do the minimum or do the maximum?

Are you normally trusting or more wary?

Generous or selfish?

What are your defaults? We all have them. Are yours making you the person you want to be or getting in the way?

And then what about spiritual stuff?

Do you have to find time to read the Bible or is it part of the daily routine?

What about prayer?

Do you find yourself having to make a decision to go to church or is it a habit that happens without thought?

The effort required to make a decision (even if you know the decision is good) every time will lead to most healthy activities falling aside unless you just set the good habits on auto-pilot.