Beech Tree News Network

The title for this article is part of a larger quote from a man long dead. Our habits have a great impact on our lives. There is the need for patience, or endurance, as well as strength and courage when times get hard. Let us read some passages that state this truth.

 ·         “… he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22, 24:13).

•       “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (Jn. 10:27).

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“To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life” (Rom. 2:7).

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“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off” (Rom. 11:22).

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“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Cor. 15:58).

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“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9).

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“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (I Tim. 4:16).

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“And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Heb. 3:5-6).

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“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (Jas. 1:25).

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“Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father” (I Jn. 2:24).

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“… be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).

             From these passages, we see a pattern. God wants us to continue in a certain manner of life. Why does He want this? It is because “We are what we repeatedly do.” The one who dies in sin has done so because he lived in sin (Jn. 8:24; Col. 3:7). In contrast, the one who dies in the Lord (Rev. 14:13) has done so because he lived in the Lord!

             Thus, we ask the question: “What do we repeatedly do”? If we do not like what we have been becoming in 2018, then it is time to stop what we are doing and start doing something else in 2019 — repeatedly – until the habit is formed!

             The full quote from which I got the title for this article comes from Aristotle (384-322 B.C.). He said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

             May we appreciate how true these words are. May we also resolve to make excellence a habit by making the ultimate decision to become a Christian (Acts 2:38) and live faithfully to the God of Heaven (I Cor. 15:58). A life spent in repeatedly doing what God says will not be a wasted life.

 -- You are invited to visit with the Caneyville church of Christ. Times of services: Sun.: 10:00 am, 10:45 am, 5:00 pm; Wed.: 7:00 pm. Website: http://caneyvillechurchofchrist.com Tune in to our radio program 101.5 FM at 5:30 am, Mon-Fri. Questions? Call: (270) 589-4167