Captivating Thoughts

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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 10:4,5

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Last week I shared my friend's thoughts about taking every thought captive, beautifully illustrated by her story of the pebble in her shoe. Now it's my turn to share some of what I've been learning since our Take Every Thought Captive challenge.

During our challenge week, I'm ashamed to admit I only occasionally remembered to monitor my thoughts. That's telling all in itself. My thoughts wander up and down some very dark and sinful allies. Ouch! What is going on in there?

I ended the week with relatively few instances of attempting to control my wayward thought life.

I know if I am experiencing jealousy, envy, anger, and covetousness, for example, I need to round up those sinful thoughts and cut them out of the pack. My problem is remembering, or wanting, to do it. Mostly, I keep entertaining that ugliness like a welcome guest in my consciousness.

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My first takeaway from the exercise was that my thoughts are undisciplined renegades too used to going their own way. I have never practiced taking my thoughts captive, therefore it is a new spiritual discipline for me, and much more difficult than I would have imagined.

My second takeaway was that sinful thoughts aren't my only issue. For me, time-wasting thoughts are equally a problem. I consider circumstances that aren't real, haven't happened and may never happen and spend way too much time considering them. Additionally, I replay old conversations and re-imagine old situations over and over in my heard contemplating what I could have or should have said. I am always the conversational victor scoring hurtful points over my foe.

Taking my time-wasting thoughts one step farther, what about the time I spend imagining my dream house, or what different outfits I could wear when attending a future event. Nothing wrong with a little imagining and planning. But how much time am I spending in fanciful thinking?

Although our challenge ended weeks ago, the Lord is continuing to show me glimpses of what my thought life should look like. I intend to persevere because . . .

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2:5  

Linking to Teaching What is Good