We have a favorite study from Malcolm Gladwell's book "Blink". It tells us how one group of students was asked to visualize being a professor for 5 minutes before a test, and another group was asked to visualize being a fanatic soccer fan. European study, I guess. Anyway, the group that thought like a professor scored noticeably better than the soccer fan thinkers. The study showed that just this small amount of thinking would effect our physical reaction in the world.
You now are wondering how I came up with the title of this post. Right? Well, both Steve and I have had this study come to mind during church. Last week, Pastor James said that he knew a preacher that asked his congregation to say to themselves "I am a minister." I'm sure this thought would create the same type of showing as the study students. No, not better grades, but a measurable difference in how the people approached their daily tasks.
This morning, during Sunday school, the statement was said that we should think of ourselves not as "sinners saved by grace" but "saints saved by grace." The idea being that we would behave, in our daily lives, as saints who sometimes sin and not as sinners who sometimes get it right. Again, the idea behind the study at work.
I wonder if saying prayers multiple times a day gets the same results? It seems to me that it would put your mind into the same visualization mode. Goodness, even seeing those ubiquitous WWJD bracelets might effect how you think and thus act.
Let's do an informal study for the next week. Let's visualize ourselves like Jesus, a minister, or a saint and see if we behave differently.
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