Categories

In what categories do we think?   Do our lives revolve around the immediate or the eternal?  Is our decision making driven by what others think or by the life of the church?  Are our interests moved by our flesh or the Spirit?

It seems that most of these things are driven by habit/by what we've been taught, rather than with understanding, which is unfortunate. In living only by what we've been taught, we are most likely living by our feelings. Most people have a connection between heart and upbringing, romantically modified or not, and that can lead to directing our life simply by "that's the way we've always done it."

I should articulate this a little further. The problem is not "doing things that have always been done that way", but doing things without knowing why.  It's about action based on understanding. I won't go so far as to say that it's wrong, but instead can say that it won't lead to long term good. Proverbs encourages us to strive after knowledge and understanding, not to blindly act.

A great place to start is to simply start asking yourself the question, "Why?" about anything and everything. The wonderful thing about the Church is the foundation that exists for all we do. We don't rely simply on tradition for traditions sake.  Everything we believe and practice has been handed down to us by Christ, the apostles, and the direction of the Holy Spirit.  So we can say we follow Scripture and tradition because these things have been given to us.