Taking Every Thought Captive
It’s true, we are what we eat. It’s also true, we are what we think.
It has been said that we have more than 10,000 thoughts cross our minds each day. How important our thinking must be! Of the 10,000 thoughts you had yesterday, or that you will have today, what would your percentage be of healthy, good-for-you, God-pleasing thoughts? 1,000 thoughts? That’s only 10% of the total. And most of us would readily admit there are many days when we don’t even have that many!
Emily George, author of Loving God with All Your Mind, says, “Negative thinking is to your spirit what the flu is to your body.” The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians (4:8):
“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS.” (capitalized for emphasis)
Since our thoughts turn into words, think of all the things you’ve said in the last day. Would anybody say of it that it was absolutely lovely? “Example: “She looks terrible today.” Why, what an absolutely lovely thing for you to say! Admittedly, we could say a lot of things that are true, couldn’t we? But how different our world would be if we only chose what is lovely.
Besides our words, here are more thoughts about which the Philippians 4:8 principle can be applied:
THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD. The goal is to know Him personally. Every one of His words is true. For example, you might think, “I don’t feel forgiven. But what is true? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
THOUGHTS ABOUT YOURSELF. Sometimes we are our hardest critics. Read Psalm 139 to get a great perspective about yourself. Knowing that our mother’s perspective is biased because she birthed us physically, imagine God’s perspective in birthing you spiritually. He thinks you’re something special.
THOUGHTS ABOUT OTHERS. Believe the best. In relationships with others, we must take every thought captive before it runs away. We think, “My boss wants to see me. I must have done something wrong” or “She hasn’t called me. She must be mad at me.” Our minds almost always assume the worst: “My stomach hurts. I must have stomach cancer.” No, you might just have indigestion.
Many times it is just our own fears that make us not believe the best. Most fears are irrational. Just take every thought captive and go about your day with peace of mind.
