According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about two-thirds of all individuals imprisoned after
conviction of a crime, and later released after serving some portion of their
sentence, are convicted of another crime and imprisoned again. The ten-dollar
word for this is recidivism, which basically means a tendency to lapse into a
previous pattern of behavior, especially a
pattern of criminal habits.
[The American Heritage Stedmans
Medical Dictionary] Some states have introduced programs aimed at reducing
recidivism for young offenders and have been successful because they give the
previously-convicted individuals something worthwhile to do after release and
teach them they can do something more productive and can make a positive impact
on the lives of others. One young woman who was given the task of working with
young patients suffering from cerebral palsy said, I couldnt believe how much trust they gave us. Imagine being told
that youll never amount to anything, and then having a total stranger love you
for just who you are. That individual is
married and entering law school
now.
The study of recidivism is basically a
study of human nature and of habitual behavior. The key word here is habitual;
individuals get into a habit, or pattern of behavior and, once entrenched, it is
difficult to change without replacing the behavior with something positive and
convincing the individual the new behavior will have a positive outcome far more
valuable than the old behavior. Unless and until the previous offender believes
the new behavior is going to positively impact them personally, they will not
make a determined effort to change. One who believes he cannot escape from
poverty or a crime-filled neighborhood will often return to a life of crime
simply because he sees no other way; it is when he believes there is a better
way that he gives up the life of crime and begins to do something
productive.
I hope I havent lost you by now because
the real point of this article is not to talk about criminal recidivism, but
spiritual recidivism. I want to take some time to talk about the habit of
falling back into bad spiritual habits and putting our souls in danger by doing
so. Recidivism is not just a problem of the criminal justice system; it is a
spiritual problem that touches every man and woman who has ever walked the face
of this earth [with one obvious exception].
The apostle Paul reminded the Ephesian brethren
that prior to their obedience and conversion to Christ, they all
were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once
walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom
we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the
body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of
mankind (Eph. 2:1-3). The habit of the old man was to simply do
what we wanted to do, following after our fleshly desires without restraint;
that way of life was now unacceptable behavior for one who was now in Christ.
Later, Paul would remind these same brethren that they needed to
put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner
of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the
spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of
God in true righteousness and holiness
(4:22-24). In other words, they needed to replace
those old, bad habits with a spiritual mind set and a life of holiness and
righteousness. The important part to note is that they had to replace the bad
habits with the good.
Paul would write similar commands to the brethren
at Colossζ saying, Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked,
when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath,
malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another,
seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the
new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its
creator
(Col. 3:5-10). In reality, there is no conversion
without change and the change that must be made is from bad habits to
good.
Jesus once told a story of a man who had an evil
spirit who left him, only to come back later, finding the house empty, swept, and put in
order. He goes out
and find seven more spirits more evil than himself and the mans end is worse
than in the beginning (Matt. 12:43-45). The point we should note from this is
that we cannot simply get rid of old, bad habits; we must replace them with
spiritually-good habits or else we will slip back into the old
ways.
Peter also warned that spiritual recidivism is a
most dangerous position when he wrote, For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the
world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than
the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of
righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment
delivered to them
(2 Pet. 2:20, 21). Please do not take this matter
lightly! If we were called the enemies of God to begin with, imagine how much
worse the state of spiritual recidivism must be to
God!
Right about now you might be thinking that
you would never go back to the old ways and would never abandon the Lord for the
world. I hope and pray that you are correct, but I also know that when we get
into habits, we often do not realize that we are; sometimes, it takes an outside
view to see the reality of what we are doing. To help you to make an honest
self-examination, consider the following:
In Speech. When we lived in the world, it is likely that we didnt think
too much before we opened our mouths. All kinds of rude, crude, insulting, and
hurtful words were likely coming out of our mouths and if someone didnt like
it, we probably just threw out a few more choice words for them! That was
merely a reflection of what was in our hearts, just as Jesus said (cf. Matt.
12:34b-35). In Christ, however, such things should not be coming from our mouths
because we were supposed to have had a change of heart. What kind of words are
coming out of your mouth? Do curse words slip out from time to time? The truth
is, they dont slip at all; if they are coming out of our mouths, it is
because they are in our hearts. Make a determined effort to rid those thoughts
from your mind, else they will soon be coming out of your mouth and others may
think youve gone back to the old ways!
In Deeds. Again, we may remember that before we obeyed the gospel, we
lived essentially for self and did whatever we pleased. If we wanted to indulge
in things we now know as sin, we just did it; if we wanted to sleep in on Sundays, we did;
if we wanted to knock back some beers, go out and hit the clubs, or party all
night and wake up in a strange bed, that was what we did. Maybe we were not so
far into worldliness, but we just stayed home on Sundays and watched football on
TV, went out to the lake, or caught up on chores and shopping. Going to church and
anything religious was not on our minds. Whatever it was, we did it because it was what
we wanted to do and no one was going to make us do anything we didnt want to
do! Our habit was selfishness.
Now, in Christ, it is different. Now, those who
are disciples of Jesus Christ no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake
died and was raised
(2 Cor. 5:15). Now, we wake up early on Sundays and
prepare our minds for the worship assembly where we meet with brethren of
like precious faith that we
may honor and worship God; now, we set our minds on spiritual things and no
longer have a taste for the worldly ways and fleshly pursuits; now, we are known
for our godliness, modest dress, and desire for spiritual conversations and
Bible studies; now, we put God first and others second. Now, our habit is
selflessness.
That is what were doing, right? Is that
what we think, or would those in the world think differently? Are we truly
following our Lord faithfully, or have we slipped back into some bad habits? And
if the charge was made against you that you were just as worldly as everyone
else, would you be found guilty?
---Steven Harper
"How Shall The Young Secure Their Hearts"
Keeping Our Priorities
Straight
Tommy was the team's second baseman and
third best hitter. Unfortunately on this Wednesday night, the game had started
late and was running long. They were losing 3 to 2 in the 5th inning and it was
already 7:20. He was worried that church would be starting soon and the game
would not be over. What should he do?
Karen was the first chair in the flute
section. A concert by the band was to be given next Monday. But the church had
scheduled a gospel meeting that week. The band director always required all
students to be present at the concerts or their grade might be affected. What
should she do?
These situations are common occurrences
today. Most all young people who are Christians and involved in social things
like sports, band, chorus, etc. will face this kind of dilemma. For many young
people, the decision is no real problem. Their social activities involve a
commitment and they see no problem in doing those things over their religious
service. But for many of you it is a real problem! It should not be a problem
just because you are worried what your parents (or others) might say if you did
not go to church. It should be a problem because you yourself are truly
concerned about your service unto the Lord as a
Christian.
Let me suggest that the key to finding the answer
to these dilemmas is keeping our priorities straight. Let us remember why we are
here to start with. "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and
keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Eccl. 12:13). While God wants us to
enjoy life, we are here first and foremost to serve Him. We must "...seek ye first the
And let us not just talk about attending services. We can get ourselves so busy with social things that we have no time for Bible study, doing good works, helping others, etc. that we as Christians should be making the time for! Paul spoke of some who were " ..... lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3:4). Let us not be in that category. Get your priorities straight! Truly love God with all of your heart that you will put His service before anything else in life!
---Titus Edwards