Why Your "Lizard Brain" is Hijacking Your Faith (and How to Reclaim the Image of God)

 

The Athens of the Mind

When the Apostle Paul stood in the middle of Athens (Acts 17), he was deeply troubled by a city crowded with idols. Today, we live in a digital version of Athens. Instead of marble statues, we are surrounded by a constant flood of social media images and 24/7 news that crowds our minds. We are over-stimulated and perpetually "plugged in," sacrificing our attention at the "altars" of being busy or useful to others. Scientists describe the human brain as a high-powered antenna meant to help us survive our environment, but our internal hardware is currently overloaded by all the noise.

This feeling of constant stress is a signal that our internal system is in crisis. We often build "altars to unknown gods" by giving up who we really are just to meet the expectations of people around us. We trade our true worth for a "fake peace." When we prioritize making the group feel comfortable over following our own deep convictions, we stop listening to God and start merely reacting to the loud world around us.

The Biological Resistance: Why Change Feels Like Death

To understand why growing spiritually can feel so scary, we have to look at how our bodies are wired. There is a theory called the "Triune Brain" that describes three layers of the brain: the reptilian brain (survival), the limbic system (emotions), and the neocortex (thinking). The reptilian brain’s main job is to keep things exactly the same. It hates change.

In our churches and friend groups, this shows up as a "gut reaction" against new ideas. Think of the "frog in the pot" story: if the water temperature rises very slowly, the frog doesn't realize it’s in danger until it’s too late. Chronic anxiety works the same way in a community. Because the stress level rises so gradually, our "lizard brain" doesn't see the danger until the whole group is exhausted. Even when we are at the top of the evolutionary tree, in moments of high stress, we still react like animals facing a predator.

The "Fake Self" and the Unknown God

When boundaries get blurry, we lose our "True Self"—the part of us built on solid values and beliefs—and replace it with a "Fake Self." This version of you is negotiable. It’s the mask you wear to be accepted or to get ahead in a stressful environment.

When we look for "likes" or outside approval to feel like we are "enough," we are worshipping an "Unknown God" of productivity. We treat our souls like a problem that needs fixing rather than "sacred ground" that should be respected. Reclaiming the Imago Dei—the Image of God—means realizing that your worth is a free gift of "life and breath," not a reward you earn by making sure everyone else stays calm.

Property Lines for the Soul: The Church’s Immune System

In Acts 17, Paul mentions that God set the "boundaries" where people would live. Spiritually speaking, these aren't just lines on a map; they are property lines for the soul. Boundaries define where you end and someone else begins. They are meant to keep healthy things in and harmful things out.

A church without boundaries is like a body with an immune system problem. It accidentally attacks its strongest leaders—the ones brave enough to be different—while letting toxic behavior and irresponsibility slide in the name of being "nice." Being a "yes-person" in a stressful group isn't a spiritual gift; it's a lack of courage that lets the "weeds" take over the sacred ground of the community's mission.

Growing Through "Differentiation": From Wishbone to Backbone

The cure for this "lizard brain" hijacking is something called Differentiation of Self. This is simply the ability to remain "Me" while still being a part of "Us." It is the process of moving from a "wishbone" (always hoping others will like you) to a "backbone" of steady faith.

You can practice this differentiation of self by using the PAAOR method:

• Present: Being physically and emotionally there without losing yourself in other people’s drama.

• Aware: Knowing exactly what "pushes your buttons" emotionally.

• Accountable: Taking 100% responsibility for your own choices and emotional health.

• Open: Being willing to hear others without feeling threatened by their differences.

• Responsive: Using your "Thinking Brain" to choose a response instead of just having a "knee-jerk" reaction.

In this model, being accountable is the path to "Sanctification"—the process of being "set apart" for God. You have to be a distinct, solid person to truly serve the church.

Learning from Conflict: Clarity Over Comfort

We often think conflict means something is wrong spiritually. However, history shows that conflict, when handled with our "Thinking Brain," actually creates clarity. Take our famous namesake Martin Luther. He had a massive public disagreement with his mentor, Andreas von Karlstadt. Karlstadt was Luther’s "Academic Papa"—the man who gave him his doctorate.

Their fight wasn't just about theology; it was a struggle for independence. Luther had to separate himself from his "Papa" to find his own voice. This painful process helped Luther move past the "lizard brain" urge to simply win an argument and instead use his "Thinking Brain" to define the core truths of Grace. When handled well, conflict is a fuel for spiritual growth.

Conclusion: The Courage to Be God’s Offspring

Your reptilian brain is a great tool for staying alive, but it’s a terrible tool for defining your worth. In the book of Acts, some people called Paul a "babbler"—and that’s exactly what your survival instincts are when they try to tell you who you are. You aren't defined by how useful you are to others or how well you please a stressed-out system.

You are defined by the "Divine Breath" within you. You are God's offspring. Reclaiming your identity takes the courage to treat your soul as sacred ground and refusing to let your animal instincts drive your spiritual life.

The question is: Are you merely reacting to survive, or are you responding from the sacred ground of who you truly are?

The Gold Reveal: More Beautiful for Having Been Broken

In the house where I grew up, my mother had a set of china that was the pride and joy of our dining room, particularly on special days like Easter. It wasn’t an expensive inheritance or something she bought at a high-end department. My mom actually collected it, piece by piece, from the inside of laundry soap boxes.

By the time she was done, she had eighteen full place settings. Now, if you took this plate to an appraiser, they’d tell you it wasn't "valuable" in the way the world usually counts value. It was just simple ceramic. But to me and my family, this china is priceless. It represents years of my mother’s hard work, her care for our family, and the hundreds of meals we shared around our table.

I still remember the day I broke one of the large serving pieces. I can still hear that sharp, sickening crack as it hit the floor. My heart just sank. I felt an immediate rush of shame—the feeling that I had ruined something that could never be replaced. In my head, that piece was now "trash" because it was no longer perfect. I tossed the shards, pretending it never happened. Because, in our world, once something is broken, we usually think its story is over. 

That feeling of a world shattering—of something precious falling apart—is exactly where the Easter story begins. It doesn't start with a celebration, but in a graveyard, in the dark, with a broken heart.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have laid him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Over the last several weeks, we’ve been talking a lot about the "wilderness." Whether we’ve been here every Sunday or just navigating the ups and downs of life, we all know what the wilderness feels like. It’s that place of exhaustion, of fear, and of wondering if the broken pieces of our lives - or of our world - can ever really be put back together. 

At the very beginning of this Lenten season, on Ash Wednesday, we did something symbolic: we took a piece of pottery and shattered it right here. We didn't sweep it up immediately, but sat with its brokenness, acknowledging that in this life, things break. Dreams break. Health breaks. Relationships break. Cultures break. 

And for the last forty days, those shards have been out of sight. In the "wilderness" of the mending process, there is often a long period of silence. It’s the time when the glue is drying, when the Master is working in the quiet, and when it feels like nothing is happening at all. We often mistake that silence for abandonment. We think that because we are still in pieces, God has just moved on.

But while we were waiting, that broken piece was undergoing a transformation through an ancient Japanese art called Kintsugi.

Kintsugi literally means "to join with gold." It’s a tradition that teaches us that mending something doesn't mean we must hide damage. Most of us try to live with "invisible" repairs—we want to look like we’ve never struggled, like the floor never met the china. But Kintsugi is based on a refusal to discard.

In our "throwaway" culture, we get rid of what is cracked. I did that with that broken piece of my mom’s china. But, in kintsugi, a master mender doesn't see trash in the shards, but a history worth honoring. They don't use clear glue to disguise the fracture; they use gold to highlight it. They make the history of the break the most beautiful part of the vessel, because a piece that has been broken and mended is more resilient than one that was never tested at all.

This vessel has been mended to look transformed. The cracks are no longer signs of shame; they are seams of gold. When we begin to look at God as a Master Artist, we begin to understand that the broken parts of our lives aren't the end of the story—they are actually the exact spot where God begins to build something beautiful and new.

On that early Easter morning in the garden, we see this process happening - not to a vase, but to a person.

Mary Magdalene stands at that tomb as a shattered vessel. Completely crushed by her grief. When she finally looks into the tomb, she sees signs that something has clearly changed—the empty space, the head cloth "rolled up in a place by itself,” and the two angels seated at both ends of the tomb. But an empty tomb and folded linens, and even two angels cannot mend a broken heart. They are just evidence, perhaps, of a miracle, but they aren't the Mender himself.

Mary is still in pieces until she hears a voice. Jesus stands before her and speaks one word: "Mary."

In calling her name, Jesus starts the mending process of her life. That one word is the "gold" that flows into the cracks of her heart. By speaking her name, He isn't just proving He is alive; He is stepping into her broken history to begin the work of making her whole.

Mary’s brokenness doesn't just vanish; it is transfigured. She becomes the first person to see the ultimate "Gold Reveal." When she looks at Jesus, she doesn't see a man who has erased the last three days. She sees that the wounded human being—the one who was broken on the cross—is the wounded human being now glorified.

Just like the gold seams in the Kintsugi pottery, the scars on His hands and His side are still there, but they aren't signs of defeat anymore. They are the most luminous, beautiful part of who He is. He is the Master Mender who carries His own mended history into the light.

This is the story of redemption. Of our redemption. Not some mechanical process or a concept we have to figure out; but a living relationship that begins the moment He calls your name.

Today is the "Gold Reveal."

If you’re here today and you feel like the pieces of your life aren’t quite fitting together—look at Mary. We spend so much of our energy trying to convince the world that we are unbreakable. We hide our regrets, we mask our grief, and we try to glue ourselves back together with clear, invisible adhesive so no one can see the cracks.

But the Gospel tells us that we don't have to live that way. God is a Maker, not a factory. A factory wants everything to look identical, sterile, and interchangeable. But a Maker looks at a shattered person and sees a masterpiece in the making. God doesn't love you in spite of your history. God loves you with your history. The gold only exists because there was once a crack. The light can only shine through because there was once a break.

The story, though, doesn’t end in the garden. When Jesus mends Mary, He doesn't tell her to stay at the tomb and admire the repair. He tells her to go. He sends her back to the others, not as a perfect woman who never suffered, but as a mended woman, the first apostle, who has seen the Lord.

As you leave this morning, you are carrying your own "Gold Reveal" out into a world that is also in pieces. You are going back to homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods that are full of people trying to hide their own shards. They are exhausted from trying to look "perfect" while they feel like they are falling apart.

Do not worry about hiding your cracks. Do not be ashamed of the wilderness you’ve walked through. When the world sees your scars, let them see the gold of the Resurrected Jesus shining through the seams. Let them see that you aren't just "fixed"—but that you are being transformed. Let your life be the evidence that the Master Mender is still at work.

Because like my mother’s soap-box china, you are of infinite value—not because you’ve avoided the breaking, but because of the Living One who knows your name and has held your pieces in His hands.

You are being mended. You are being called by name. And through Him, you are more beautiful for having been broken.

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Preached April 5, 2026, at Rejoice Lutheran Church, Clearwater, MN.

Easter 1, Resurrection of Our Lord