Reflex 4.16.2026

    We had a contractor’s representative at the church house today to iron out responsibility on containing a problem on a recently completed job. I about missed the meeting entirely. Not because I forgot it, but because I never remembered it in the first place. It was in my notes from our board meeting last week, but I never moved it to my task-manager, calendar, daybook, pocket-notebook, or desk-notebook. Items that don’t make it into one of those 5 elements of my “system” are not remembered. I’ve worked this way for quite a while. This kid of practice helps free the mind from being a container for random bits of information allowing it to be an organ for thinking. All those containers I noted earlier can be tapped for the scraps of information necessary to thinking, processing, expanding, contracting, sharing, or shelving materials for preaching. Getting information out of my head is a reflex. It has become instinctive. So, when someone asks me a question and I say, “let me check” or “I need to look at my Things, calendar, or notebook”, I’m not stalling. I actually need to check these bins of extended memory.

    These kinds of reflexes are not unique. For example, another reflex occurs when I move from my Ford Ranger pickup to Mrs. Beckman’s ever-so-cute Chevy Trax. My truck is a very nice 2009 model, but it was manufactured prior to the wide accessibility of certain enhancements. No back-up camera. Mrs. Beckman’s Trax is newer, fancier, and more refined. It has a back-up camera, Car-play, blind-spot warnings. If not “the works” it’s certainly nicer than my truck. 

    Nonetheless, when I get in her vehicle (as I will this afternoon when we go to dinner). I will throw the vehicle into reverse and look either over my shoulder or in the rearview mirror when I back up. Why? This is not necessary—the vehicle has a back-up camera, this is a 21st century ride. Why back-up the old-fashioned way? Reflex. After about the third time backing up, I will realize that I can take advantage of that tech and act beyond the scripts I was taught back in 1978 when I was learning to drive. 

    Much of our life is a kind of learned instinct. We act from reflex. Many of those reflexes were honed before we came to Christ. Others were developed as an ongoing aspect of our evolving discipleship. Regardless of their origin there are times when we should examine them and determine whether they are liberating or restrictive. Do they help us or hinder us as we live a life in pursuit of Jesus? 

    Use this time between Easter and Pentecost, between the vigorous activity of the early Spring and the business of Summer to reflect upon your reflexes and decide if there are any that need to be retained, retrained, or rejected. Consider the following:

“Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:13 ESV)

Paul encourages us to consider the resources we have at our disposal for adjusting our reflexes to life as a maturing disciple. Here is another scriptural layer:  

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8 ESV)

 

Yes, we need words like Paul’s to encourage us. We also need words like Peter’s to direct us. The Bible supplies both kinds of resources and one of the true joys of being a preacher or teacher is helping people make reasonable connections between various parts of Scripture. 

    Per our subject, both Paul and Peter agree. We need to have good scripts. We need to develop and hone good reflexes. This process will involve good models, intentional habits, specific targets, and occasional recalibration. 

    The unspoken ingredient is time. The following and supplementing that Peter and Paul describe is something that requires not only intention but also incubation. For many of us the rest of April is going to be sort of slow. Things will pick up in a couple of weeks with graduations, concerts, proms, and Mother’s Day. Between Easter and Pentecost, these few weeks before the Summer rush is a great time to test our reflexes. Not just for the balance of this year but for lifelong discipleship.