Nurture the Transformational – Part 3

28 Nov Nurture the Transformational – Part 3

Moving from Checkers to Chess

Five Steps to Unleashing the Power of an Eternal Perspective

Today, we’re finishing our series: “Moving from Checkers to Chess ~ Five Steps to Unleashing the Power of an Eternal Perspective.”

Unless we have an eternal perspective, viewing life as God does, we are playing checkers in life while God is playing chess. And, if that’s the case, two things are certain: (1) we will consistently make the wrong moves, and (2) we lose in the end. I’d like to help avoid that.

(If you would like a concise outline to help you keep your mind around the big picture as we move through the details, click here and we’ll send you one. It’s available at the end of this post also.)

We are about to cross the finish line in our series on  five steps to unleashing the power of an eternal perspective, looking at the third issue involved in Step 5: You Must Nurture the Transformational.

Part 3: Repeat Truth Until It Changes You

When we repeat truth often enough, big things happen.

How many times have you heard something really important in a sermon, in a book, in a conversation… and then you forgot about it and went on your way unchanged? In one ear and out the other!

Hearing something typically isn’t enough to change us. We have to hear it repeatedly. So, if something is important, we need to repeat it until it changes us. When we do, big things happen. Sufficient repetition does four things.

First, repetition creates deep neurological pathways in the brain allowing us to “own” that truth on a level that we will not own it without the repetition.

There are 100,000 miles of neurological wiring in the brain. When we think a thought, an electrical impulse travels a path along those 100,000 miles. If we think that same thought twice, it takes the same path. If we think it a hundred times, it takes the same path. The more often the thought goes through our mind, the deeper the neurological path gets.

It’s like walking across the lawn once. It has no permanent impact on the grass. But if you walk across the lawn 100 times, it will wear a path. Wearing deep paths in the neurological wiring enables us to remember that thought and to access it easily.

Second, repetition drives information into the subconscious.  

Then, the subconscious links that repeated thought to other things that we already know. This process creates new insights, revises our estimates of importance, and connects dots… none of which would have happened without the repetition. This cerebral activity can produce powerful changes in our fundamental attitudes, values and behavior.

In addition, the subconscious bubbles that mental gold back up to the conscious where we can also intentionally act on it, multiplying its power.

Third, repetition reinforces right behavior

The brain does not distinguish between a real and a vividly imagined event. So when we repeat something, over and over, the brain accepts it as true and it begins to influence attitudes, values and behavior.

Athletes know this perhaps better than any others. All top-notch athletes are skilled in the art of mentally rehearsing their athletic activity, perfectly, over and over and over and over.

Because the brain does not distinguish between a real and a vividly imagined event, mental rehearsal can often be nearly as effective as actual physical rehearsal. Repetition burns deep neurological pathways in the brain allowing the body to perform that activity more and more perfectly.

However, our very versatile brain can apply this phenomenon to virtually anything, including personal attitudes and behavior. So if you want to be more patient and loving toward your spouse or a coworker during times of predictable dissonance, you can rehearse Bible verses, then vividly imagine responding biblically during those times of dissonance. Over time, you can automatically respond to your spouse or coworker in a way that is consistent with the Bible verses.

There is almost magical power released in your brain when you vividly envision a clear goal. You can use it for major life goals, or for everyday minor goals. This principle can be applied to a vast array of issues we face in life, whether trying to overcome something negative or achieve something positive.

Finally, repetition releases the Reticular Activating System.  

The reticular activating system (RAS) is the gatekeeper to the brain. The brain is bombarded with far more information than it can focus on at any given moment. Therefore, in order to cope, the reticular activating system filters out most of what bombards the brain, and only allows through the doorway those things that have been identified as important.

Once something has been identified as important, the RAS allows information on that subject into the brain, enabling the brain to then decide what to do with it.

For example, I had never owned a black car before. But once we bought one, I started seeing black cars everywhere. It seemed like half the cars on the road were black. Who knew? That was the RAS letting information in that it was screening out before. Or perhaps after the doctor diagnoses you with high blood pressure, you start seeing all kinds of information and advertisements about high blood pressure that you never saw before.

So when we review something over and over, the RAS says, “Oh, you think that is important? Well look at all this other stuff that is similar,” and it starts showing you things you would not have seen before, dramatically expanding your knowledge and awareness of additional truth.

As you saturate your mind with Scripture and other truth, a world of possibilities opens up to you as the RAS reveals ways to see that truth lived out in your life.

Conclusion

Many years ago, I sat in a classroom and heard master-teacher Howard Hendricks ask, “What do you want out of life? Are you willing to pay the price?”

Those questions changed my life. As a young man, I had never been confronted with those questions before, and I have been asking and answering them ever since. Having said to myself, “That is really important,” and reinforcing that response, has made me a different person than I would have been otherwise.

When we hear something that is important, and when we repeat that truth over and over, something magical happens in the brain.

Repetition of valuable truth begins to change us, powerfully, from the inside out, guiding and accelerating our spiritual growth, leapfrogging us years down the road compared to not repeating truth until it changes us.

When you hear something that seems really important, don’t let it pass.

Write it down. Then repeat it until it changes you.

Don’t worry about trying to find the “right” things to write down… or trying to find equal meaning in something someone else thinks is important. Write down the things that you think are important! Then, repeat them! As you do, the Holy Spirit will guide you, illumine your mind to truth, convict you of sin, call you to righteousness, and change you in ways you are not likely to change otherwise.

Well, we’ve done it! We’ve crossed the finish line in our Moving from Checkers to Chess series and the 5 steps to unleashing the power of an eternal perspective. I hope this series has been as helpful to you as it has been to me. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to get the free downloadable PDF of the “At-a-Glance-Overview” below. Use it as a reminder of the 5 steps you must have in your “spiritual game plan” to unleash the power of an eternal perspective in your life.

I look forward to seeing you next week when we’ll take a look at what’s next! See you then!

Get a Moving from Checkers to Chess At-a-Glance-Overview: Click Here

As we have been studying these concepts for quite some time (including in some prior blog series), I’m excited to have now connected all the “moving parts” from those posts and combined them into a “spiritual game plan” in this “Moving from Checkers to Chess ~ 5 Steps to Unleashing the Power of an Eternal Perspective” series.

For an overview of the game plan, so you can see at a glance where we begin and where we’re headed, I’ve created an overview/outline you can download for free: Click Here

For the full discussion of each of the steps, begin with the first post in this series, Moving from Checkers to Chess, and then continue with the following posts thereafter.

In case you’re new here, below are two resources I’ve created for additional help in your Christian discipleship journey:

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