Hosea 11:7
“And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.”
Israel had a bad tendency towards backsliding. Their propensity was to serve God, receive His blessings, stray from God, go into captivity, repent, be restored, and start this pattern all over again. This tendency to backslide caused them to miss many of the blessings God had for them, it caused their children to learn the same bad habits, and it also caused their children and grandchildren to suffer God’s judgment. It is sad that Israel never seemed to get away from this tendency.
Tendencies in and of themselves are not bad. You can have good tendencies as well as bad ones. Having the right tendencies is so important to being victorious in the Christian life. Your tendencies are what you will become known for because they are your habits. If you have bad tendencies, it will often take years to change the thinking in the minds of people that you are a changed person if you have changed those tendencies. If you have good tendencies, it will often create trust in others to want to use you for however your tendencies help them. There are several thoughts you should keep in mind concerning creating tendencies.
First, tendencies are started by one bad act. A person who is bent towards doing something would never have that tendency if they didn't do it the first place. You must be careful with everything that you do because you are creating tendencies that may be hard to break. If you never do something the first time, you will never do it a second time. Be so careful with what you allow yourself to do the first time. Be sure what you do is something you don't mind having as a lifetime tendency.
Second, being honest towards your tendencies is the only way to change the bad ones. The question you should ask yourself is this, what are you bent towards doing? What is your tendency in life? Lying to yourself is not going to help you change what you need to change. If you have a hard time being honest with yourself, ask your pastor to help you to identify your bad tendencies. I would just about guarantee that he knows what they are if you have been in his church for some amount of time.
Third, break your bad tendencies by creating good ones. Romans 12:21 says, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”Because a bad tendency has become a habit, you can only break it by breaking the habit. You break bad habits by doing good. If you will do whatever is the opposite of your bad tendency, you will find that over time it will create a good tendency. This is not going to be easy, and for some time you will have to purposely make yourself do the good, but if you don't give up, you will create a good tendency in the place of the bad one.
Fourth, be patient with others who are trying to change their bad tendencies. Ephesians 4:2 commands the Christian to be “…longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” You need to be forbearing with others if you want them to be patient with you while you try to change your bad tendencies. Always remember that you can't change others, for only God can do that. More Christians would overcome their bad tendencies if we made longsuffering a part of our arsenal.