Habit

I was a smoker for about eighteen years. A twenty-stick pack would last me for about two days on condition that I did not have many things to think of. Along the course of my smoking life, I attempted to quit smoking for a few times but to no avail.

Every time I engaged with a plan to quit smoking, I would have to retire for my sleep very early at night. I would also have to push through the days with sweets and candies. Things did not worked out as I wished and I just could not get rid of this habit.

I knew very well that smoking is not good for me and as well as to those who are around me. Times after times, I had to force myself to buy the smallest packet so that I could reduce the amount of intake. This sounds logical in arithmetic term but in actual fact, I was cheating myself because when I reduced the size of the packet, I increased the frequency of visiting the convenience store. This method did not really help me to effectively cut down the amount of intake but cost me to spend more.

When I came down from the altar call after I had received the Lord as my personal Saviour, the thought of quitting smoking came again. It was a simple thought Jesus put in my mind because He wanted to free me from this habit. He needed me to agree with Him.

The next day, I was convicted to make up my mind to quit smoking. I left the remaining six sticks of cigarette (the smallest pack with 7 sticks in it) and the lighter on the shelf. I did not smoke from that morning until the evening... and this time, I told nobody about it, not even my wife. (During previous occasion, I would declare to everyone that I was quitting smoking and made a liar out of myself.)

When I reach home that evening, I past by the shelf and that packet of cigarette seem to wave at me. I knew that if I smoke then, it would definitely be an enjoyable one because of the duration of times that I had not been smoking. This tempting imagination prompted me to reach for that pack of cigarette again. So I took a cigarette in my hand and went to the backyard so as to avoid the attention of my family members.

As I started to light the cigarette, a voice came from inside of me asking me not to smoke because I had not been smoking for the whole day already. I replied that voice in my mind that I wanted to smoke because as far as I knew, this stick of cigarette would be an enjoyable one. The voice replied immediate saying that I could go on without smoking if I could believe. However, I insisted and the voice said briefly, “Ok, you can try!”

“Yes! I win, I win.” As I thought in my mind, I lighted up my cigarette immediately and took the first sip. Guess what, gosh…! Instead of enjoying myself with this first sip, I was feeling dizzy. I was so dizzy that I lost my balance and fell back on the wall. It was not a good experience at all. This sort of experience had never been happening to me before and why did it happen this way?

The voice came again inside of me in a kind but playful way saying, “See…! I have told you not to smoke and you did not even want to believe in me! Look at yourself, what a fool you have made yourself to be!” I was stunned and answered, “Ok! Ok! You win, you win!” and threw that cigarette into the drain immediately.

The Lord took away my desire of smoking supernaturally and it has been nine years since the throwing of that cigarette. Indeed, habit is defined as an acquired repetitive behavior pattern; custom; costume of us and these habits are rationalized by our intellect based on our knowledge from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That is why the people in the world love to say, “Old habits die hard!”

HABIT

When we kick away the H, we still have ABIT,
We take away the A, we still have BIT,
To throw away the B, we still have IT,
In order to deal with the I, we need the “T” (Cross).

Come to Jesus, the Tree of Life. Our bad habit is a done deal on the Cross.