HABITS THAT COST by Robert Soto

April 27, 2010

HABITS THAT COST by Robert Soto

I Corinthians 10:12-13 "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

A long time ago our people had the crazy habit of eating cactus. The Unites States Army would report that our Apache people were starving to death and should soon give up because all they were eating was cactus. Well, today dieticians have discovered that the reason our people were so healthy was the foods they were eating, including the crazy habit of eating cactus. It was a good habit that should not have been broken. Today it seems that we have habits that are taking us away from good health and nutrition that costs more than we can afford. They become habits that can be broken, but we choose to do them anyway. They are choices that are not only killing us but depriving us of financial security. For example, today I found out that a box of cigarettes on an average costs about $5.50 a pack. So if you smoke eight cartons a week, you are spending about $44.00 a week and that is about $2,288 a year. In ten years, you will have spent $22,880. I was also told by a friend who drinks about ten beers a week that it costs him about $2.00 a beer. That means in ten years you have spent $10,400. Maybe you do not drink beer or smoke cigarettes, but how about candy or soft drinks? Today I noticed that a soft drink runs about $1.50 each. Drink two a day and that comes out to $10,950 in ten years. So if you have a beer drinker, a smoker and someone who enjoys a couple of soft drinks a day, in ten years you would have spent $44,230. I will not touch habits like the sacred Starbucks.

So where am I going with this? I actually do not know, but as I drove home from the pow wow in Pennsylvania I had plenty of time to think. We have developed habits that have become addictions and that have taken us off the path that God the Creator placed before us. We have developed habits and addictions that not only take us off the path, but that make us develop unhealthy habits that will eventually bring trouble in our lives, health and families. Addictions that we cannot afford and that eventually destroy body, soul and family. Addictions that bring us into financial ruin because we cannot afford them. The sin is not in the beer or the cigarette or the soft drink, but in the abuse that brings destruction. Our people a long time ago had healthy habits, but today we would rather pay off the money to keep us healthy than to use wise choices. But with the bad choices comes a way to make good choices, for God the Creator will always provide the means to make good choices; it is up to us. Paul wrote, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

Robert Soto, Lipan Apache and pastor of:

McAllen Grace Brethren Church
The Native American New Life Center
Chief of Chiefs Christian Church