There are two aspects of righteousness. The first is being in right standing with God. This comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. “the righteousness which is of God by faith” Philippians 3:9
The second aspect of righteousness is practicing right things. Not to win salvation, or to earn favor with God. But because we love God and want to be like Him.
Developing righteousness practices may not come easy. Habits form that are hard to break. Maybe we deal with stress and disappointment by anger and rage, or get relief by turning to alcohol or drugs, or illicit sex. Or maybe it’s just too painful and we withdraw from life.
There are ways to begin to form new habits, new ways of dealing with the stress, setbacks and disappointments of life. Habits form over a long period of time, and it may take time to form new habits. Do not be discouraged. Sometimes it’s one step forward, two steps back; two steps forward one step back. Don’t be discouraged – go ahead and take the step anyway. In the long run, you will begin to make progress. Ask for God’s help.
In his book Atomic Habits, James Clearly writes about forming habits. He talks about three way to make changes: goals, deciding what we want; processes (or habits), what we are going to do to move toward the goal; identity, who we are. The strongest motive for making change is to chose our identity. That is, decide who we are. Once we decide, we will act consistent with who we have decide to be. This is the most powerful way to make a change.
For example, if we tell ourselves, “I’m the kind of person who never misses a workout.” We will direct our habits as if we are that person.
The example Clearly gives is smoking. If someone asks if you want a smoke, you might reply “No thanks, I’m trying to quit.” Or “No thanks, I’m not a smoker.” It changes your identity.
In Proverbs 23:7, it seems to tell us that as a person “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Whatever a person identifies themselves in their heart, that’s how they will act. If there are bad habits you want to stop, or good habits you want to start, why not tell yourself “I’m the kind of person who…”