Do You Struggle to “Take Captive Every Thought”?

Posted on Apr 04, 2017 Topic : Men's Christian Living

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (ɴɪᴠ)

There’s something powerful in the idea of taking captive every thought. Who does that? It’s certainly not taught on TV or the radio. Rarely do you hear anyone speak publicly about controlling your thought life.

And yet that’s what the Bible instructs us to do. Why? Because our hearts are corrupt and feed wrong thinking to our minds all the time. So it is up to us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to make sure we filter the thoughts that enter our minds and purge the negative ones that are already there.

As Christians, we are often anxious over a fleeting thought that pops into our heads with no warning. We wonder how we possibly could have had such a thought. We start to feel guilty and dirty, as if the experience of the thought were itself a sin.

The fact is that, in most cases, we cannot prevent a specific thought from entering our mind. All we can do is manage it once it’s in there. If it’s a negative, sinful, destructive thought, we can clamp down on it, reject it, and eject it from our minds. If it’s a positive, holy, and productive thought, we can clamp down on it, meditate on it, and apply it to our lives.

Sin occurs not when we experience a fleeting thought, but when we dwell on a sinful thought rather than driving it out.

On the other hand, if you find that sinful thoughts are continually popping into your head so that a thought pattern is developing, you’re probably inviting such thoughts into your life in some way or another, by the material you’re reading, watching, or thinking about or by the environment that you’re exposing yourself to. When this happens, it’s time to guard your heart by removing the stimulus, when possible, or dealing with it through prayer and accountability.

How do you know which thoughts are appropriate and which you should eject like a virus? You can find the answer in Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

If your mind begins to wander into territory beyond Philippians 4:8—regardless of why it started that direction in the first place—you can snap to attention and call it to order.

Food for Thought: Consider what topics your mind gravitates toward when you have free time. Which topics do you need to clamp down on and eject from your mind? Which topics do you need to capture and meditate on?