And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. Luke 22:39
The word ‘custom’ highlighted in our text, can also be translated ‘habit’, which is a translation of the Greek word, ‘ethos.’ In English, we use the word ‘ethos’ for describing the culture or the character and spirit of something or someone.
This reminds us of our habits or codes of practice which form our character and make us into who we are.
And as we all know, there are good habits and bad habits, which we can cultivate in our lives for our betterment or detriment. But as someone once rightly said; Good habits are hard to acquire but easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to acquire but hard to live with. [Grace quotes].
But as believers, we still have the capacity to hang on and even develop sinful habits. And like any bad habit, they are difficult to break but as obedient followers of Jesus Christ - break them we must! We need be proactive in weaning bad habits out of our lives as we train ourselves for godliness (1Tim. 4:7) by developing new and godly habits.
This training carries the idea of disciplining ourselves, for breaking bad habits do not come easily or quickly. They take time, effort, and structured planning.
Jesus “as was his custom/habit...” went to the Mount of Olives. In other words his habitual practice was to reside at the Mount of Olives for prayer, reflection and to teach his disciples. Good habits that glorified God were integral to his life of ministry and true servant hood.
This surely demands that we also be in the business of developing God honouring habits, for as someone once said; Failure to establish good spiritual habits will lead to poor spiritual health. [Grace quotes].