Skip to main content

Knee Jerk Reactions


Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8) 

I used to think that the two groups of people described represented Christians and nonchristians. I knew better, but it comforted me to think that way. The truth is that Christians can and do also rely on the flesh. Some years ago, I got this idea (possibly from Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search For Meaning) that there is a difference between a reaction and a response. A reaction came immediately and without thought. When someone hits that spot and your leg jerks out, that’s a “knee jerk reaction.” A response requires consideration.
When something happens, a person tends to react. It comes naturally. Someone steps on your toe, you say “Ouch!” and pull your foot away, or push the person away, or punch the guy in the mouth. Later, you’re likely to forgive. No matter what the stimulus, our my preferred response is different from my immediate reaction. Viktor Frankl doesn’t express it this way, but it seems to me that his idea is to eliminate the reaction. In his teaching, one inserts consideration between the stimulus and the response.
I know that when I react, it’s usually fleshly. When something intrudes on my space or my time, rolling my eyes is the least of my potential reactions. I get more direct, less loving, joyless, defensive, snappy, less kind, less gentle. In short, the fruit of the Spirit tends to be left on the shelf as I focus on my needs, my wants, my goals. Is it any wonder I end up feeling that somehow, I’ve failed God, the people who needed me, and myself?
This is yet another reason that I ask for prayers for wisdom, direction, and attitude. Those all get left on the shelf when I most need them. I think that’s why God puts us in situations that tend to produce our fleshly reactions, so we can learn better how to interrupt the stimulus, reaction, response cycle. Life is so much better when the flesh is not in control.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more