"... They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5, CEV).
Martin Luther supposedly said that you cannot control a bird from flying over your head, but you can prevent it from making a nest in your hair! We cannot be responsible nor even control what thoughts enter our minds--they could be from the devil, just as Jesus told Peter, "Get behind Me Satan!" However, we must rein in our thoughts and get a grip on our thought life, which can only happen by the power of the Spirit to restrain. Our thoughts and thought life are important indicators of our obedience to Christ.
David was concerned about his thought life when he prayed: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight..." We can indeed control what we choose to meditate on and what words come out of our mouths, for Jesus said that which comes out of the mouth is what defiles a man (cf. Mark 7:15). There is a correlation between our thought life and our spiritual life and obedience. Paul says in 2 Cor. 10:5 that we capture our rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. There is a direct connection here!
We need to do more than just get our thinking straightened out, in getting a Christian worldview--we need to get a grip on our thought life and be heavenly minded. Proverbs 4:23 says that we should "keep [our] heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life." Again, similarly, it is written in Prov. 23:7 (KJV) that if we "commit [our] works unto the LORD, [our] thoughts will be established."
First things first: we dedicate our minds to Christ and commit to doing His will in an obedient life and God cleanses our minds and give us a pure heart: "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things [including our thinking] are become new!" (2 Cor. 5:17, KJV). "...but let God transfer you into a new person by changing the way you think..." (Rom. 12:2, NLT). ("Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.").
It is important to note that we are not to be so heavenly minded we are no earthly good. We are not purely spiritual creatures, meant to live on cloud nine with our minds preoccupied and not to ever be ethical, practical, applicable, nor recreational. We need to apply our thoughts to everyday situations and be a witness of our thoughts, not keeping them to ourselves--this is where sharing and witnessing come in. One must conclude that if we only expose ourselves to junk we will exhale the same, just as the axiom goes: garbage in equals garbage out (GIGO).
Proverbs 1:7 says a fool despises wisdom and knowledge: The Bible emphasizes wisdom and increasing in knowledge: "Knowledge is power"(cf. Prov. 24:5) according to Sir Francis Bacon and a fool feeds on trash, while the wise are hungry for the truth (cf. Prov. 15:14). Why? Because we become byproducts of what we expose ourselves to. "A man is what he thinks about all day," said one poet. It has also been said that "you are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are!" We are basically the sum total of our thoughts and resultant thought life, which defines our character and personality.
We all need to take inventory of our thoughts and get regular spiritual checkups, and catch ourselves making mistakes in our thinking, like three thought wasters of time: dwelling on the past with regret; misinterpreting the present with angst, and anticipating the future with worry. If we are making a mistake in our thinking we ought to correct it and replace it with more therapeutic and healthy or balanced thinking--this is sound mental health! All three (regret, angst, and worry) work together to rob us of our joy and steal time and energy and can lead to depression or melancholy--being in a depressed funk or in the doldrums, as it were.
Note that the psalmist complained to God of his mood swing in Psalms 42 and 43 and didn't even know why he was downcast and so glum. And in Psalm 143 the writer complains that his depression deepens! Being discouraged is a form of depression as well as the blues, and everyone is vulnerable or susceptible--no one is immune, it's only being human--as the song by Neil Diamond goes, we're all subject to the blues now and then! Thinking negative thoughts is destructive to mental health and we should always see the bright side and the silver lining behind the cloud--thinking negatively is a bad habit and there is always a positive spin on a problem--actually, earth has no ill or dilemma that heaven doesn't have the cure or answer to--it's a matter of faith and facing our problems with courage and seeing the lighter side sometimes.
In conclusion, bear in mind that the Word of God is capable of judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart and shows us what we are made of and our true selves, pulling no punches and sparing no reprimand where appropriate (cf. Heb. 4:12). The Bible speaks to every attitude and frame of mind and addresses every issue we can face--Christ fully relates to us in every dilemma and fortunately intercedes for us. Soli Deo Gloria!
David was concerned about his thought life when he prayed: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight..." We can indeed control what we choose to meditate on and what words come out of our mouths, for Jesus said that which comes out of the mouth is what defiles a man (cf. Mark 7:15). There is a correlation between our thought life and our spiritual life and obedience. Paul says in 2 Cor. 10:5 that we capture our rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. There is a direct connection here!
We need to do more than just get our thinking straightened out, in getting a Christian worldview--we need to get a grip on our thought life and be heavenly minded. Proverbs 4:23 says that we should "keep [our] heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life." Again, similarly, it is written in Prov. 23:7 (KJV) that if we "commit [our] works unto the LORD, [our] thoughts will be established."
First things first: we dedicate our minds to Christ and commit to doing His will in an obedient life and God cleanses our minds and give us a pure heart: "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things [including our thinking] are become new!" (2 Cor. 5:17, KJV). "...but let God transfer you into a new person by changing the way you think..." (Rom. 12:2, NLT). ("Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.").
It is important to note that we are not to be so heavenly minded we are no earthly good. We are not purely spiritual creatures, meant to live on cloud nine with our minds preoccupied and not to ever be ethical, practical, applicable, nor recreational. We need to apply our thoughts to everyday situations and be a witness of our thoughts, not keeping them to ourselves--this is where sharing and witnessing come in. One must conclude that if we only expose ourselves to junk we will exhale the same, just as the axiom goes: garbage in equals garbage out (GIGO).
Proverbs 1:7 says a fool despises wisdom and knowledge: The Bible emphasizes wisdom and increasing in knowledge: "Knowledge is power"(cf. Prov. 24:5) according to Sir Francis Bacon and a fool feeds on trash, while the wise are hungry for the truth (cf. Prov. 15:14). Why? Because we become byproducts of what we expose ourselves to. "A man is what he thinks about all day," said one poet. It has also been said that "you are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are!" We are basically the sum total of our thoughts and resultant thought life, which defines our character and personality.
We all need to take inventory of our thoughts and get regular spiritual checkups, and catch ourselves making mistakes in our thinking, like three thought wasters of time: dwelling on the past with regret; misinterpreting the present with angst, and anticipating the future with worry. If we are making a mistake in our thinking we ought to correct it and replace it with more therapeutic and healthy or balanced thinking--this is sound mental health! All three (regret, angst, and worry) work together to rob us of our joy and steal time and energy and can lead to depression or melancholy--being in a depressed funk or in the doldrums, as it were.
Note that the psalmist complained to God of his mood swing in Psalms 42 and 43 and didn't even know why he was downcast and so glum. And in Psalm 143 the writer complains that his depression deepens! Being discouraged is a form of depression as well as the blues, and everyone is vulnerable or susceptible--no one is immune, it's only being human--as the song by Neil Diamond goes, we're all subject to the blues now and then! Thinking negative thoughts is destructive to mental health and we should always see the bright side and the silver lining behind the cloud--thinking negatively is a bad habit and there is always a positive spin on a problem--actually, earth has no ill or dilemma that heaven doesn't have the cure or answer to--it's a matter of faith and facing our problems with courage and seeing the lighter side sometimes.
In conclusion, bear in mind that the Word of God is capable of judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart and shows us what we are made of and our true selves, pulling no punches and sparing no reprimand where appropriate (cf. Heb. 4:12). The Bible speaks to every attitude and frame of mind and addresses every issue we can face--Christ fully relates to us in every dilemma and fortunately intercedes for us. Soli Deo Gloria!
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