2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 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.”
I would look at this verse and think, “That sounds exhausting! Did Paul have half the number of thoughts in his mind that I have in a single minute, let alone every day?” I just don’t have the mental capacity to examine every thought coming through my brain and still function at life.
However, the truth of the matter is that Paul wasn’t asking us to take every thought that enters our brain and put it under a microscope. That’s not taking thoughts captive; it’s micro-analyzing ourselves. And while a close examination of our thoughts may be necessary in certain times and in certain seasons, it’s not how any of us should be living life on a daily basis.
Instead of scrutinizing every thought, I believe Paul is talking about being aware of our thoughts and accepting or rejecting those thoughts based on what we believe and what we want to see in our lives. Let me explain.
According to studies, an average person thinks 70,000 thoughts per day. Now, not all of these thoughts are conscious – they come and go, and we are adept at accepting the ones we want to believe and rejecting those that don’t impact us or that we see as false. These thoughts might originate from our surroundings (we see an advertisement for a coffee shop, for example, or we overhear someone talking about their mother, which prompts us to think about our own mother). Or they might originate from us (if you are worried about current politics, it’s not unlikely that thoughts about the topic will surface in your brain). Thoughts can also come from spiritual sources – namely, the devil and God.
I think all of us would like to hear God more and hear the devil less. The problem is that both voices can become so normal in our heads that we think they originate from us when really, it’s an outside influence.
We think our 48.6 thoughts per second, trying to make sense out of them. Anything irrelevant or that doesn’t make sense, we discard without a second thought. The remainder of the thoughts may stay in our brains as we process them and make decisions based on these thoughts.
When Paul talks about taking thoughts captive, He’s telling us to accept and reject the thoughts that appear in our minds based on our faith in Christ, the Bible, the things God has spoken to us, and the mind of Christ that is within us (1 Corinthians 2:16). We posture our minds to find anti-Godly thoughts irrelevant. It can take some time, but we can train our brains to do this automatically.
There are still times when we need to intentionally accept or reject thoughts. The devil may whisper, “You saw how the person on the trail looked at you weird? It’s because she can see how ugly your clothes are, and she thinks you’re a loser.” This is a great thought to reject. First, because you have no idea what was going through the other hiker’s mind, but even more, because “ugly clothes” and “loser” are not how God defines you.
How can we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ? The first thing is to just be aware of your thoughts. Without fixating on any particular thought, do they line up with Scripture and what God has told you about your life? Are they tearing you or others down? Are they excellent, praiseworthy, pure, and true? (Philippians 4:8)
This doesn’t have to be an exhausting exercise. It happens over time. Give yourself grace. Just because you think a “bad” thought doesn’t mean you haven’t succeeded. In fact, the very act of noticing the thought and not accepting it means you are 1) learning, and 2) overcoming.
Second, the more you believe in your heart the Bible and the things God has spoken, the more your brain will automatically find lies irrelevant. (Note that I didn’t say read the Bible – I said believe the Bible. This is application more than head knowledge.) Think about it this way: The thought flits across your mind that you’ll be stuck in this dead-end job for the rest of your career. However, you also believe that God has spoken to you about starting your own company. In this case, while you want to wait for God’s timing for your entrepreneurial venture, your brain will automatically reject the thought because you know where God is calling you.
