My friend Greg Stone shared this essay with me. I thought it was worth sharing, and post it with his permission.

CHANGE HABITS BY REPLACING TIME

INTRODUCTION

There are only 24 hours in a day. Generally speaking, during the week, 8 of those hours will be spent working and ideally at least 7 of those hours will be spent sleeping. So that leaves you with 9 hours left to spend. When you factor in bathing, eating, commute times, going to the bathroom, etc. The amount of time you have to spend, outside of those necessities, continues to shrink.

So time is extremely precious, and in my opinion, the most valuable resource we have. As far as I'm aware, we don't get any back when we spend it, and we can run out at any given moment.

Now, while that may not be a unique observation and may be obvious to some, the majority of people, it seems, still tend to take a lot of their time for granted and choose to waste it more often than not. With that being said, what we choose to do with our time matters, and it can affect us more than we often realize.

HUMANS ARE IMPRESSIONABLE

One way that isn't always apparent is that how we spend our time determines who we become.

Humans are both impressionable and habitual. Every day, every hour, we are being shaped by what we are repeatedly exposed to, including:

1. Who we associate with
2. What we watch or listen to
3. What we read
4. What we choose to do

We tend to think, speak, dress, and act like who and what surrounds us. This influence is constant and it can become a part of us, or in other words, it shapes our character.

But while humans are habitual, we are not trapped by our habits. We also have the innate ability, whether progressively or even on a whim, to change, adapt, and overcome.

Change often comes through becoming aware of new information, experiencing new environments, or simply deciding to choose differently.

One definition of change involves making something different or modifying it in some way, but for this talk, I want to consider the definition of change in which you replace something for something else. When considering this definition of change as it pertains to time and habits, a principle emerges, which is: If you create a void in time, it will be filled with something else. Time doesn’t stop. It doesn’t disappear. It will always be filled, whether intentionally or by default.

BOOK OF LUKE: CHOOSE SOMETHING BETTER

To consider this principle, let's read from the Book of Luke where Jesus shares the following idea:

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26 NKJV)

One possible interpretation of this scripture could be that if you choose to stop doing something bad in your life and you don’t replace it with something better, something worse can eventually take its place and you'll be worse off than you were before.

Considering this in regard to the principle of time and habitual change, If you want to successfully change a habit, you can’t simply just stop doing something (or create a void in time), but you must also intentionally choose to do something better in its place.

LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF IMPROVEMENT

How does one first identify what habit needs to change and what it should be replaced with? While this question deserves its own talk, a good starting point is to follow your conscience, with the understanding that the voice of God is the voice of improvement. Everyone has and will experience persistent thoughts and associated feelings in the realm of:

1. “I need to stop watching so much TV”
2. “I need to stop eating so much sugar”
3. “I know smoking is bad for me"
4. “I should start exercising”
5. “I need to clean my house”

These kinds of thoughts matter. Any thought that invites you to improve should not be ignored. As you do less of what you think you should stop, and do more of what you think you should be doing instead, clarity follows, revealing which habits need to change and what they should be replaced with.

As identified habits and their replacements are revealed, you can find added power to make changes by actively considering why you should make them, and what benefits will materialize if you do. In other words, by actively increasing and focusing on what you desire more than what you are leaving behind, you will have far stronger reasons to improve.

As a simple example that can be taken much further:

If you think that you need to stop watching so much TV and that you should exchange that time to start exercising instead, actively consider why and what benefits will materialize if you do.

Not watching so much TV will not only free up the necessary time to exercise, but will also reduce your exposure to potentially negative and high intensity content, which will result in less stress and a more peaceful mind. Exercising instead further increases those benefits by making you healthier, stronger, thinner, and more mobile now and in years to come. You will be able to better keep up with your kids and future grandchildren. You will spend less time at the doctor's office and less money on medical bills.

Let the voice of improvement guide you, and support the process by continuously seeking the best information, the best influences, the best people, and the best environments. And as you do this, help others do the same.

BOOK OF LUKE: THE EYE

To further consider this concept, let's return to the Book of Luke again where Jesus says:

"The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.” (Luke 11:34-36 NKJV)

From this passage we can consider several ideas:

If you align your life to what you sincerely believe is best all the time, your life will be filled with light (which includes truth, clarity, meaning, and goodness).

If you align your life to what you believe is the worst all the time, your life will be filled with darkness (which includes falsehood, blindness, obscurity, and corruption).

If you drift between your best and your worst all the time, then your life will be filled with confusion and inner conflict, which are attributes of darkness. You are "tossed to and fro,” your perceptions become warped and you begin to "call evil good and good evil". You may sincerely believe falsehood. You lack inner clarity and purpose, and you experience ongoing inner torment. You’re up and then down and pulled in every direction, or in other words, "carried about by every wind of doctrine."

That is part of why Jesus tells us to enter in at the strait gate:

“...for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Mathew 7:14 KJV)

There is no wiggle room.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Mathew 6:24 NKJV)

MODERN TOOL THAT TOSSES TO AND FRO

Now, while preparing this talk, it has come to my attention, that there is a modern tool many of us use that can pull us out of alignment of the narrow path very quickly:

Short form videos, like TikTok and YouTube shorts, are designed to impress and influence you in seconds. Their algorithms are programmed to learn your personal impulses and will feed you a variety of content to keep you watching for as long as possible. When you step onto the hamster wheel, you voluntarily subject yourself to drifting between seemingly “good” and “evil” content, some of which is real and some fabricated.

These videos will not only entertain you to keep you engaged, but will influence your behavior to form habits faster than other exposures. You get on the ride which tosses you to and fro between good and evil for as long as you choose. By the end of each session you have furthered your confusion of reality and are closer to calling good evil and evil good. It is a great trap that will get you off the narrow path if you’re not careful!

Instead of leaving life and reality up to an element of chance. We should be hyper-intentional with how we spend our time. We should do our very best to act instead of being acted upon.

If you find yourself endlessly doom-scrolling through TikTok or YouTube shorts, like I have, I encourage you to create a void in time and intentionally fill it with what you sincerely believe is the best option. At the very least, intentionally choose what you will view. Remember, how we spend our time determines who we become.

CONCLUSION EPHESIANS 4

In conclusion, I want to share some verses from Ephesians 4, which I believe summarize elements of this talk well:

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:17-32 NKJV)

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.