Christian Life As Habit
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds” (Eph. 4:1-3, 17). With these words, St. Paul summarizes the Christian life and exhorts the Christians in Ephesus to conform to this life. The Christian life is a habitus, that is, a disposition of the soul that drives all that one thinks, says, and does. It is a practiced and routine way of life. This life is dependent on and centered in the grace and mercy of our God shown to us for the sake of Christ which makes it unlike any other way of life out there. We live in a world where beliefs are all too often separated from action. Beliefs are private abstract matters that have very little bearing, if at all, on how one lives. This is not how it was in the ancient world. In the ancient world belief and action were inextricably tied together. If you were a Stoic you lived like one. If you were a Platonist, you lived like one. In the same way, the Christian faith reshapes one’s entire life. The life of the baptized is a total transformation, a putting off the old self and a putting on of Christ (Eph. 4:22-24).
How is this done? Firstly, we must recognize that the Christian life is no private matter. The life of the baptized is a life of public witness not just to those who share the same faith, but even to the unbelievers (the Gentiles). As our Lord told his disciples before his Passion, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). The love that Christians have for one another is a signpost to the world that faith is living and active. It bears witness to the greater love that God has for His people. This love takes shape in the roles that God has given to us. Our lives as workers, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, students, and more are all opportunities to show forth this love that was first shown to us. This is what it means to offer our bodies as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). It is to live a life of service to God and neighbor, knowing that true freedom is not doing whatever your heart desires, but instead faithfully carrying out the tasks that God has put before you.
Secondly, we must remember that the Christian life isn’t a life of laxity or smooth-sailing. This is why it is a habitus. It won’t always be easy to fulfill our callings in life. Indeed, there are times when it will be a struggle to do so. Yet, we are called to struggle against our flesh with the help of God and train ourselves in the exercise of Christian habits. St. Paul describes it this way: “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:27). We are called to discipline ourselves like athletes so that we may be better equipped to serve God and our neighbor and so receive the crown of life. What does this look like? First and foremost, it looks like repentance. We know that we will not be perfected until the life of the world to come and because of this, our whole life is one of repentance. The habit of the Christian life is to examine our conscience, confess our sins, trust in the mercy of Christ, and pray for the strength to do better. Likewise, we discipline ourselves by ordering our lives around Christ and his Church, meeting him where he has promised to meet us with his gifts of Word and Sacrament. These gifts strengthen our faith and train us in righteousness that we may be better equipped to live holy and God-pleasing lives.
Finally, we must root ourselves in our baptisms. We who were united with Christ’s death and resurrection must now daily die to sin and rise to newness of life (Romans 6). This dying and rising is a routine that we practice in the same way we brush our teeth or make our bed each morning. To live as a Christian is to follow the path that Christ has set before us. It is to turn away from the ways of the Gentiles and to follow the ways of the Lord. Simply put, to live as a Christian is to walk, delighting in God’s Word, serving one’s neighbor, and enduring all hardship and sorrow with confidence in the Lord who reigns over all things and is coming to judge the living and the dead. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1).
In Christ, Vicar Dunsmore