As 2026 began, I decided to change up my devotions. I have followed roughly the same pattern for the last 15 or 20 years and thought it would be nice to freshen things up a little bit. I am not interested in novelty, so it’s not like my new way of doing things was radically different. It was just a slightly new time, place, and method of reading the Bible and praying. I was excited for it.
But it didn’t work. It’s not that there was anything objectively wrong with it. It’s just that it didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel as connected to the Lord. I didn’t feel like I was pursuing our shared friendship. I didn’t enjoy it in the way I enjoy my normal morning pattern of an early-morning walk during which I read the Bible and pray. And so I reversed course and went right back to the method I’ve been using for all these years.
This reflects a pattern I’ve noticed in life: as I get older, it becomes harder to change. My habits are now embedded in my life to such a degree that it is hard to alter them, reframe them, or even give them up altogether. It is more difficult to add new habits, remove old ones, or alter existing ones. It’s not that it can’t be done, but just that it is harder than it used to be.
There is a lot of good in this. I find it hard now to break good habits. I think it would be more difficult for me to not have a time of personal devotions each day than to have one. I think it would be more difficult for me to not pray with Aileen before bed each night than to pray with her. I think it would be more difficult for me to not read at least one good book a week than to read one. These good habits are deeply embedded in my life, and it is hard to kick them, which is exactly the point of building them in the first place.
These good habits are deeply embedded in my life, and it is hard to kick them, which is exactly the point of building them in the first place.
I also find it harder now to add bad habits since almost every bad habit needs to displace a good one, and those good habits are well-practiced by this time. If I decided I wanted to begin each day watching YouTube, it would be difficult for me because it would come at the expense of a good habit that already fills that spot.
So there is lots of good in the fact that my habits are hard to break, but there is some bad as well. The bad news is that it is almost as difficult to shake bad habits as good ones. Those bad habits are no longer ones I have clung to for merely 5 or 10 years, but for 30 or 40 or 50 years. They are as deeply a part of my life now as my good habits and every bit as tough to displace. It is also more difficult to add new good habits, simply because I am not as malleable as I used to be, not as easy to shape and mold. There is a kind of fixedness that comes with age, and it is both good and bad.
But it’s not hopeless, because God has power over good habits and bad ones alike. He has power over virtues as well as vices. With his help, we can still change our habits; we can still put off the old and put on the new. We can, but only if we ask for his help and take advantage of the means he has given us. With him on our side, it is never too late, and we are never too fixed to become radically less sinful and radically more holy than we ever would have dreamed or imagined.
