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Matt Perman on Cultivating Godly Habits – Part 1

One issue that I’m always interested in is that of cultivating godly habits. Scripture makes it clear that growth in godliness requires discipline, and so I’m always interested in how other Christians have cultivated habits of godliness in their lives. I recently asked several people to tell me about godly habits they have cultivated and how they cultivated those habits.

Today and tomorrow we’re talking with Matt Perman. Matt is the director of strategy at Desiring God Ministries. He also blogs on productivity and management at What’s Best Next.

Me: Matt, what is one godly habit that you’ve cultivated over the years, and how have you cultivated that habit?

Matt: This is probably one of the most common answers that people give, but I’d have to say daily prayer. This habit started for me back when I was about 6 or 7. One of my brothers came in to my room one night and said “you should pray every night for 5 minutes.” That settled it for me. I started praying every night both because it was the right thing to do and because it seemed natural to communicate with God. On the nights when I didn’t feel like it, the understanding that this is what people should be doing–that it was the right thing to do–kept me doing it. And when I skipped nights–sometimes for a while–I always knew I needed to get back to it.

One of the things that has made this habit so important in my life is not simply the fact that prayer is in itself so central to the Christian life, but rather the early age at which God brought this habit in to my life–long before I knew anything about daily devotions and such. And this began because of the simple example of my older brothers and one of them deciding, for some reason, to tell me that I should do the same.

Thanks Matt! Stay tuned for part 2 of Matt’s answer tomorrow.