CONDITIONED REFLEX ACTION

CONDITONED REFLEX ACTION.  I remember learning about this in secondary school, using the example of Ivan Pavlov’s dogs. He used a bell to signal to the dogs that it was time to eat. After doing this repeatedly, the dogs started to salivate whenever they heard the bell, even when there was no food. They had grown to associate the sound of the bell with food, and they did not have to see the food before their system got triggered.

Conditioned reflex action is an  acquired or learned behaviour that develops over time through repetition. The learned behaviour occurs automatically, even when we are not consciously thinking of doing whatever it is.

When I get to the office each morning, the first thing that I usually do is to switch on the light. However, on some occasions, the cleaners that come in earlier inadvertently leave the lights on, but this does not stop my hand from reaching out for the light switch as soon as I get in, even though the lights are already on. This is what conditioned reflex action can do. It happens so quickly before you have time to reason and decide to act or not to act.

As Christians, we are expected to acquire Christ-like behaviour by all the things that we do repeatedly to such an extent that behaving like Christ under EVERY circumstance becomes our nature. When we are faced with circumstances that should ordinarily elicit a rash or unChrist-like response from us, we should always naturally react in a way that reflects Christ. At such times, we don’t even have to think about it because of who we have become as we repeatedly and regularly study God’s Word, pray, fellowship with other believers and work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Getting to this point takes conscious effort and personal responsibility, and it could easily go the other way if we are not intentional about it. That is why Paul admonished the Romans in his epistle:

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:2 [MSG]

It is easy to become acculturized wherever we find ourselves, and behave like everyone else – speak like everyone; cuss like everyone because the rest of the people believe there’s nothing wrong with it; react angrily at the slightest provocation; blur the lines between right and wrong just like everyone else. So, Paul’s message is very apt and always relevant. Instead of being ruled and influenced by the world around us, the Word of God should dwell richly in us, and we should be full of the Holy Spirit, praying without ceasing. So that our conditioned reflex action reflects Christ under the sun and in the rain, when it is easy and when it is not, when it is expected and when it is unexpected because that is just who we are – Christians in word and in deed.