The Power of the Brain

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” Psalm 139:14 NKJV

Have you ever known anyone to move away, say to the south, where they have that southern drawl? Then, you don’t talk to them for a while and when you finally do, you notice they have a slight ‘accent’. Where did that come from?

According to a 2010 study by a research group at the University of California, Riverside, people subconsciously mimic other accents due to a phenomenon called "the chameleon effect". The chameleon effect describes our human instinct to “empathize and affiliate” with other people.

It goes beyond just speech; we mimic what we see.

“Mimicry has evolved in the context of social interactions and serves an important social function. Recent experimental research has shown that people unconsciously mimic more when they have a goal to affiliate with others. Thus, if they want another person to like them, they start to mimic the other person more.” (Source: psychology.iresearchnet. com)

It goes beyond just speech and sight; we mimic other people’s emotions!

“Through biological programming, we imitate other people’s emotional displays—facial expressions, bodily gestures—and in doing so, we come to adopt their internal feelings. The biological mechanism is the mirror neuron system in the human brain. Our brain practices doing actions we merely observe in others, as if we were doing them ourselves.” (Source: psychologytoday. Com)

Did you catch that?!

Our brain practices doing actions we merely observe in others, as if we were doing them ourselves, even the bad stuff. Usually the bad stuff. That is powerful my friend.

The Bible puts it another way. “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV

The moral of the story is to be careful of the company you keep.

2 Corinthians 6:14 warns us to not be yoked together with unbelievers. And the question is then asked, “For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” NIV

We need to keep our eyes on Jesus. We need to behold Him day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

By beholding the glory of the Lord, we become changed into the same image we are looking at.

A study published in the March 2006 issue of “Personality and Individual Differences” had twenty-two people, divided equally between male and female, judge the looks, personalities, and ages of 160 married couples.

The participants viewed photographs of men and women separately and were not told who was married to whom. The subjects consistently judged people who were married as being similar in appearance and personality. The researchers also found that couples who had been together longer appeared more similar.

If a man will come to look like his bride by staring at her over the years, how much more will the bride of Christ come to look like Christ by beholding Him. It’s a beautiful thought.

It’s a simple fact. We mimic what we see and hear and think. If we are hanging out with the wrong people, watching the wrong things, listening to the wrong words, we risk losing our salvation.

King Solomon once wrote, “Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked.” Proverbs 25:26 and “as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17

King David was to the point when he said, “Away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commands of my God!” Psalm 119:115

The company we keep is of vital importance and Paul warned of people, even within the church, that we should be wary of.

“I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters…I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.” 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 NKJV

Just like Peter getting out of the boat and walking to Jesus on the water, as long as we keep our eyes on our Savior, we will be okay.

“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” Hebrews 12:2

by Jeanette Stark – Tuesday, May 9, 2023