I won’t overly burden you with my current reading, which is a 462-page book on the brain and the importance of interhemispheric information transfer facilitated by the corpus callosum. Plus, you may not have a burning desire to be informed about the brain’s conglomeration of nuclei and ganglia or the organizational foci and broader functional regions with specific gyri and sulci. So, enough of that. I am, however, quite intrigued about this incredibly complex organ God has designed. At this early point in my reading, my layman’s understanding is that our brains have been crafted with a built-in system of checks and balances, a ready-made, maturing process that allows us to act not solely by instinct or impulse, but reflectively and wisely. I say ‘allows’ because we may have times and circumstances where we capitulate to non-reflection and sometimes, downright foolishness, if not glaring disobedience (I trust I’m not alone here). Another aspect I’m discovering is how events and words and interactions are stored away in our brains, and how that ‘storing up’ (often buried or purged from conscious memory) shapes our whole person and significantly determines our future. All the stored up positive ‘data’ spurs our growth and enlarges our capacity for joyful maturity. All the stored up negative ‘data’ stunts or disfigures our growth and inhibits our capacity for joyful maturity.
And it’s the negative, stored up data (our old, in-Adam nature, sins we’ve committed, and sins committed against us) on which Jesus came to shine as the Liberator, Savior, Light of the World. Scripture says he came to rescue us – “even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace!” Eph. 2:5, TPT. Further, Jesus said: “. . . if you embrace the truth, it will release true freedom into your lives.” and, “. . . if the Son sets you free from sin, then become a true son/daughter and be unquestionably free!” John 8:32,36, TPT. From these few verses, it seems to me that full freedom has been granted us in Jesus and it is our glorious privilege to live in unquestionable freedom. Two powerful prayers that don’t require a PhD. in brain functioning for us to offer up in requesting greater freedom: ‘Lord, help!’ & ‘Come, Holy Spirit!’ Let’s talk more tomorrow, 10 AM, 3 PM, 4 PM. (we’ll all have said goodbye to Daylight Savings Time by then). PD
