The Physiology of Victory
| Do not conform any longer
to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his
good, pleasing and perfect will. Rom. 12:2, NIV |
You determine
your destiny by the choices you make each day. How you think and feel shape
your moral character, for they influence all of your words and actions.
It’s a fact: “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7).
I was excited when I read
Eldon and Esther Chalmers’ book Making the Most of Family Living
and learned that our choices actually make physical and chemical changes
in our brain cells and nervous system. Each time we make a decision to
think the same way, repeat the same words, or do the same things over again,
a small protein molecule, called a bouton, begins to form at the end of
the sending fiber of the brain cell being stimulated. This bouton enlarges
and multiplies with each repetition. It also secretes a chemical that causes
the message to be transferred along the nerve pathway. The boutons make
it easier and easier to do the same thing. Repetition of anything, good
or bad, causes the habit to become confirmed in our lives; and fixed habits
determine our character.
The good news is that we
can overcome old sinful habit patterns—those boutons don’t have to fire!
When we choose to give our will over to Jesus, and avail ourselves of His
abundant provisions of grace to keep us from falling—daily study of His
Word, heartfelt prayer, and practicing His presence—the Holy Spirit begins
to form sanctified boutons that secrete gamma-aminobutyric acid, and this
chemical puts the brakes on the firing action of the old sinful habit pattern.
The boutons of new sanctified habits also increase and multiply with the
choices we make—thus we are being transformed by a literal renewing of
our minds. This is the physiology of victory and how we can develop a character
like that of Jesus.
Through the full surrender
of your will to Jesus, you can know the joy of victory over every inherited
and cultivated tendency to evil and will be prepared to meet your Saviour
face-to-face.
| Jesus, I need Your sanctified boutons
to put the breaks on my bad habits. I surrender my will to You. |
|