In Psalms 39:11 (ESV) we read, “When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him …”
Until we have an intensely serious reason for wanting to be free of a bad habit, we’ll never get free. Freedom will remain wishful thinking. What I mean by an intensely serious reason is a reason that outweighs our attraction to the temptation that led to our bondage.
When it comes to freedom from a bad habit, it seems to me that we are incapable of receiving that gift from God until we cannot endure the damage being done or that could be done to something we hold dear. So long as that isn’t a big deal to us, we’ll never get free.
Conversely, I think it could be said that when we truly cherish God’s precious gifts to us, we will sacrifice anything to safeguard their wellbeing and presence in our lives.
