Don't Be A Donkey

As I sat in church on Sunday listening to Pastor Clay wrap up this series about our mindset, my mind kept pulling up movie scenes. If you know me, you know how much I love movies (and music and books), so this should be no surprise. If you missed the sermon, you can watch it here. Clay talked a lot about the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that is responsible for our fight or flight response. It basically lets us know when something is not quite right, and we need to be on high alert. He also talked a little about something known as amygdala hijack.

I think we have all been victims of amygdala hijack at some point in our lives. We have all had those moments where something happens and our emotions go into overdrive. Some of us have had a somewhat traumatic experience in our past that has caused amygdala hijack in our lives as adults. There are some people that seem to live in a constant state of amygdala hijack. The slightest little thing can send these people into an emotional frenzy where fear takes over and logic doesn’t stand a chance. 

While Pastor Clay was talking about amygdala hijack, all I could think about was Donkey from Shrek. If you have seen the movie, you probably know what I am talking about. There is a scene in Shrek where Donkey finds out that Shrek is hurt, and he completely loses it. He flips out! He is convinced that Shrek is going to die, and he loses his mind over it. You can watch the scene here. If this is not a perfect example of amygdala hijack, I don’t know what is. 

We laugh about this scene, but the truth is there are people out there, maybe even in your own life, that live in this state of worry, anxiety, and fear all the time. They live in what some call the Tyranny of the Moment. They are in a constant state of survival. Their amygdala is always lit up which means that their prefrontal cortex, which handles cognitive control, is always dim. Without the prefrontal cortex, they can’t think clearly, make rational decisions, or control their responses to situations. These are typically the people that we “walk on eggshells” around. They are like a ticking time bomb that everyone is careful not to detonate.

The truth is that we are all capable of turning off our prefrontal cortex and lighting up our amygdala like a Christmas tree. Our enemy feeds off of this. He loves nothing more than when he can place thoughts into our minds that create worry, anxiety, and fear within us. Scripture says that our enemy is always prowling the earth looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). I believe that he starts with our minds. Our minds are like an appetizer for him. If he can get inside our minds and consume our thoughts with his lies, then he’s got us. If we allow his lies to consume our thoughts, then he has succeeded in separating us from God. And the further that he can separate us from God, the more we start to believe his lies over God’s truth. 

I have a workout tank top that says, “Run like you’ve taken something from Liam Neeson." If you have seen the movie, you understand the shirt. In my mind, Liam Neeson is the human version of the prefrontal cortex. 

If you have not seen the movie Taken, you have no idea what I am talking about right now. In the movie, Liam Neeson’s daughter is kidnapped, and he spends the rest of the movie hunting down her kidnappers. That’s the premise anyway. There is a scene where he talks to her kidnappers on the phone, and he lays out an exact script for us for how we should approach those thoughts that try to turn off our prefrontal cortex and hijack our amygdala. You can watch it here.

The Bible is very clear on how we are to deal with those thoughts that send us into an emotional, irrational frenzy. I love the JB Phillips New Testament translation of these verses.

“The truth is that, although of course we lead normal human lives, the battle we are fighting is on the spiritual level. The very weapons we use are not those of human warfare but powerful in God’s warfare for the destruction of the enemy’s strongholds. Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God. We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ. Once we are sure of your obedience we shall not shrink from dealing with those who refuse to obey.” - 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

I love how strong and powerful that language is. Isn’t that scene from Taken a perfect example of how we should be responding to the thoughts that the enemy tries to place in our minds so often? I just love knowing that, as a believer, I have a very particular set of skills that I have acquired over a number of years that make me a nightmare for my enemy. This is why it is so important to read scripture regularly. Scripture is our weapon against the lies of our enemy. Scripture is where we find God’s truth, and God’s truth is the weapon that destroys every stronghold that the enemy has over us. 

Every day is a battle for those of us that believe. It is a battle for our minds. We can either be like Donkey, allowing our amygdala to override our prefrontal cortex, or we can be like Liam Neeson and refuse to rest until we have taken every single thought captive and forced them into obedience through God’s truth in His word. Don’t be a donkey friend. Be a warrior. Use your particular set of skills to demolish every stronghold in your life. Don’t wait for those thoughts to come your way. Hunt them down like a father hunts his daughter’s kidnappers, all the while adding to your arsenal by reading scripture every day until every thought has been dealt with and submits in obedience to God’s truth. Strengthen your prefrontal cortex, and do everything in your power to prevent your amygdala from being hijacked. I promise it will change your life for the better.