Winning at Subliminal Warfare
When spring cleaning have you ever moved a piece of furniture out of a corner in order to sweep up whatever 8-legged creatures have taken up residency? Or pulled out all the fridge drawers to discover a garden you never planted — a.k.a. a petri dish, #HomeschoolScienceProject.
Keeping all that in mind, I’ve started another kind of deep clean. I’m taking inventory of my thought life. Who holds the affections of our hearts? What really drives our thinking?
I’ve gotta have what my body is craving. Gotta have what I’m seeing. And I gotta have it all my way. Our souls hear these messages daily, even when we’re not intentionally seeking them.
See if you can identify the company or product behind each of the following slogans:
- “Got the urge?”
- “Why wait?”
- “Obey your thirst”
- “Pleasure is the Path to Joy.”
- “Have It Your Way.”
- “Betcha Can’t Eat Just One.”
- “Between Love and Madness Lies Obsession”
Catchy! Very catchy. I see what you marketing people are doing here, and it’s not working. Nope, I’m not falling for your pickup lines. I’ve set my mind on what’s above, not on what’s below …. Or have I?
Take a second glance at each one of those catch phrases. Even though I’m not in the market for any of the products, I read and hear them. Yet maybe only two of them have I knowingly bought in the past 10 years.
photo by Pixabay
Let’s see how these slogans might subliminally affect our thinking.
“Got the urge” to eat whatever you want whenever you want? M-m-m-maybe.
“Why wait” to buy those essential oil? Only the essential ones, of course. If I don’t get them for myself, who will?
“Pleasure is the path to joy” … Pleasure, path and joy are all words that strum a chord in my heart. They’re out of context, but the partial truth within works like a lure. My lazy mind is vulnerable to falling for the distortion. If I could just have more fun, I’d be more joyful.
“Have it your way” in this relationship. Surely, I can trust my “urges,” can’t I? After all, I’ve discovered the path to joy.
“Betcha can’t eat just one” square of that dark chocolate in your cabinet. Busted! (And to think I “disciplined” myself to eat only the unadulterated 70% dark variety.)
Has this subliminal warfare created (ab)normal thought patterns without our awareness? Have these thought patterns captured our heart’s affection?
What if these subliminal thought patterns were hindering — or even stealing — my God-given purpose? Perhaps they’re slyly destroying me too, as I give in to the concept of urges?
I think this issue is more real than most believers are willing to admit. The question is are we brave enough to go COUNTER-CULTURE?
My mouth says, “I love God!” but are my affections taking the easier, less painful path? Here are some new and likely frowned-upon slogans. (Add your own in the comment section):
- Loving Others, Genuinely.
- Give Selflessly, Give Generously.
- Wait! He’s bringing true wholeness your way.
- Freedom comes on the other side of sacrifice.
- Do life His way.
- God’s pleasure, my joy.
- Give God your All.
- His love conquers madness.
I’m ready to get rid of the thought-spiders hiding behind the couch and clean out the petri dishes that I don’t want growing in my mind. Are you?
“Don’t set the affections of your heart on this world or in loving the things of the world. The love of the Father and the love of the world are incompatible. For all that the world can offer us—the gratification of our flesh, the allurement of the things of the world, and the obsession with status and importance—none of these things come from the Father but from the world.” 1 John 2:15-16
Father in Heaven, I’m done being the victim in this subliminal warfare. Give me the strength to let Your Holy Spirit do a thorough inventory of my thought life and bring my lips and heart into alignment with God’s heart for me that I can be completely free. In Jesus’s name.
Sowing Seeds of Bravery to Win the Subliminal War
P.S. Did you guess right on the slogans?
- Burger King (2000)
- Qualcomm
- Sprite
- Haagen-Dazs
- Burger King
- Lays
- Calvin Klein
