One More Night With the Frogs

Who likes icky things? Icky is low on the approval chart. Of all the loathsome plagues God imposed on Pharaoh and Egypt the winner has to be the plagues of frogs. Imagine frogs everywhere, in your bed, on your table, where you sit and walk. When overwhelmed by frogs Moses visited Pharaoh and told him if he would like he, Moses, would entreat God to remove them when Pharaoh desired. Pharaoh’s response is beyond reason. He said do so “tomorrow.” (Exodus 8: 10) What? Tomorrow! Why not immediately” Why one more night with the frogs?

The tomorrow syndrome lives on. Do you have a bad habit you want to break, one you don’t like, and intend to break – – – – tomorrow?

Bad habits are hard to break. Here is the good news, good habits are hard to break. Any habit is hard to break.

In his book, “The greatest Salesman in the World,” Og Mandino, notes, “I will form good habits and become their slave. And how will I accomplish this difficult feat? Through these scrolls it will be done, for each scroll contains a principle which will drive a bad habit from my life and replace it with one which will bring me closer to success.”

In one of the ten scrolls he says, “Yet I will not fail, as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts, which will guide me through perilous waters to shores, which only yesterday seemed but a dream.”

It is up to us as individuals to design our own charts, that means how to break old bad habits and get rid of the “frogs.”

Take these steps:

Name it and admit it is a bad habit.

Tell God about it and ask His help in getting rid of it. Note, you are asking His “help.” You made it and you must break it. With God’s help you can.

Acknowledge to God your commitment to breaking it. Be definitive in stating the steps you are going to take and ask Him to adjust and strengthen you in taking them. Take your steps one day at a time. Don’t be discouraged by the difficulty involved in shattering the old habit. Changing yourself is one of the most difficult things you will ever attempt to do. It takes time, effort, and persistence. By teaming with God to do it you can do it. Keep in mind it as a frog that’s got to go.

Keep in mind how happy you will be with this improving change.

Keep in mind the people that will be made happy with the change.

Focus on pleasing God by making the change.

Today, it is time to, “put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4: 24)

Resolve, “I will form good habits and become their slave —- so, help me God.”