But I'm not the one with the problem, am I?

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Title: But I'm not the one with the problem, am I?

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2 Peter 1:5 “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge…”

After adding virtue to our faith, the next thing to add is knowledge. There are things we’ll need to learn if we’re going to change some old habits, and it takes time and new knowledge to develop new habits.

So how long does it really take to build a new habit? According to researcher Phillippa Lally in a study that was published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes 2-8 months to firmly establish a new habit. That’s a lot longer than the two or three weeks we’ve heard so many times, isn’t it?

The good news about this study is that it also showed that missing a day or messing up a time or two doesn’t stop the formation of the habit. You don’t have to do it perfectly. That’s because adding knowledge and applying it…developing a new habit…is a process. And we need to be patient with ourselves and patient with the process.

That’s good news for people in recovery, and I’m not just talking about alcoholics or addicts. I firmly believe all of us are in “recovery” from some life trauma. It might be a divorce or an illness or childhood abuse. But most of us are among the "walking wounded." While we can’t choose growth and recovery for others, we can choose those things for ourselves. Where do we begin?

If we’re going to develop new and healthier habits, if we’re going to grow emotionally and spiritually, we’ll need to learn how to do things differently. Old habits die hard, and it takes knowledge and practice to adopt healthier ones.

In order to acquire knowledge, we have to be honest, open, and willing. For me, that means admitting I’m not always right. It means being open to looking at what I need to change about myself rather than what others need to change. It means being willing to consider what others say and to try doing things differently.

Have you heard people say, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” That’s hogwash. You can’t teach anyone, regardless of age, “new tricks” if they aren’t willing to learn. It takes humbling ourselves to admit we don’t have all the answers. Even then, we’re not likely to ask for help until it hurts more to stay the same than it does to change or to listen to suggestions.

If your life is going great, you have serenity and peace, your relationships are all healthy and you have a close walk with God, this might not apply to you. However, if you’re struggling like the rest of us, stumbling and falling, hurting more than you’ll admit, maybe it’s time to do something differently. Maybe you have the faith thing in place, and maybe you’ve been “taking the body” and waiting for “the mind to follow,” but it’s not happening.

If that’s the case, maybe it’s time to add knowledge to your faith and to doing that next thing right. Maybe it’s time to seek some counsel, to listen to those who have the kind of peace you want for yourself. Maybe it’s time to add knowledge.

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, humbled ourselves, admitted we have a long way to go and started to seek some knowledge?