Fight/Flight Stand

Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to STAND firm against the schemes of the devil.”

I have known for a long time the existence within all of us the fight or flight mechanisms. Fight or flight being that spontaneous reaction to an adrenaline inducing event that causes us to run to or run away from when the dramatic occurs. For me, I normally think of this as a physical response to a danger, but reality is it is also an emotional response. To lesser degrees this same fight or flight mechanism functions in every area of our life such as home, work, friendships, and acquaintances. To describe something as an “emotional issue” is really to do nothing more than describe an issue that triggers a fight or flight response. And unfortunately that response is more often than not autonomous. It is the uncontrolled reaction of experience triggering adrenaline.

And so I have Jim Spivey to thank for these thoughts and his attempt to describe the transformative work that God has him doing. Jim knows that transformation does not come from controlling the flight. In quoting S.N. Goenka it is clear that “Avoidance or escape are no solution.” Likewise fighting is not a solution either. We cannot battle to a point that “nothing bad or unwanted happens in life.” To the contrary, success, overcoming, finding joy, living for God, being a Christian is “based on ego surrender, faith in the process, and conscious connection to God.”

Said like the apostle Paul in Ephesians, armor is not there to fight, it is not there to protect our retreat, the armor of God is there so that we can “stand firm.”

Both fight and flight are products of the flesh and automated reactions of ego and self. God’s reaction to today is to stand. Stand for truth. Stand with Christ. A light does not need to argue with darkness about its brightness. A lamp does not need to move to affect its environment with its purpose. And neither to we, if we will be who Christ called us to be… a shining example of Himself. 

Ephesians 6:12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

What this video... to me it is what standing looks like in the spirit. The Spartan being the kingdom of God and the Persians being Satan and his cohorts.

Having written this and ready to post I realize as I looked for some art to go with it that fight or flight is a survival instinct. And Christ does not call us to survive. He calls us to the cross that we might die to self and be resurrected to a new life. So stop surviving and start dying to find that new life in Christ.