Worship (and Habit)
“Your deepest desire…is the one manifested by your daily life and habits…Motivation can fade. Habits prevail." (Geoff Dyer, Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz)
“We are all creatures of habit. Further, we are the habits we choose. It’s a dangerous choice. After we choose the habit, the habit eventually controls us for good or bad depending on what it is. This is why we need to embrace the habit of correct worship as God instructs us through the Church. We also need the right orientation to worship and understand that when we worship we are allowing God to do something to us and begin to change us for the better. This will not happen if we are oriented toward worshipping to get something out of it instead of allowing something to be done to us.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“Indeed, it is up to us to choose to let the Holy Spirit lead us. We must decide to override our personal inclinations when the Spirit reveals God’s will. Only when this habit of following the Holy Spirit becomes firmly established is it possible for us to say, “[We] are led by the Spirit of God; [we] are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).” (Dynamis 6/30/2018)
“No matter the type of Christian we are, liturgical or non-liturgical, we all live by mostly unconscious “liturgies,” or rituals, that make up our daily life and crowd out Christ’s command to seek the Kingdom of God above all else. We reduce everything to cognition and don’t pay attention to our heart and deep intuition…we unconsciously learn to love rival kingdoms because we don’t realize we’re participating in rival liturgies. This partly stems from failing to appreciate the dynamics of the whole person, failing to recognize all the below-surface aspects that drive our action and behavior. If you think human beings are brains-on-a-stick, you won’t even be looking for these subconscious dynamics…This reductionistic view of the human person is then mirrored by a failure to see cultural practices as liturgies—as habit-forming, love-shaping rituals that get hold of our hearts and aim our loves.” (Sacramental Living Ministries, James K.A. Smith)
“Your spirit needs and wants closeness with God. You want to know the living God personally, not as an idea or concept, not as a distant monarch. You can draw near to God through prayer, worship, and Bible meditation. You need not live like a monk, but you probably need more prayer in your life. The habit of worship has become a convenience to be wedged between sports and other recreations. Instead, make worship your top priority.” (Life Application Study Bible, Hebrews 7:19)