PROGRAM W-1729 – Part I
I believe the process of learning to bring our thought life under the control of God’s Holy Spirit—to be “narrow-minded,” if you please, rather than follow the world’s popular “broad-minded” philosophy—is the key issue for Christians today. This is a process God began teaching me many years ago when I came back into fellowship with him and gave him control of my life. As I have learned to follow this principle, my life has changed drastically. When I’m having difficulty in my walk with God, I can always trace it back to wrong thinking.
In Proverbs 23:7 we read that as a person thinks in their heart, so are they. Heart, of course, refers to our inner person, the true us, our mind. What this verse tells us is that what we think determines what we say and what we do. It is an accurate indication of the real you.
Did you know that there is a great battle going on to capture your mind and your thoughts? The god of this present age, Satan, is doing everything possible to control your mind. He is an expert at it; he’s been doing it for ages.
For example, consider the time when Peter tried to convince Jesus that he was not going to be killed. You’ll find the story in Matthew 16 and Mark 8. Jesus rebuked Peter with very strong words:
“Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (Matthew 16:23).
I think Jesus was tempted to listen to Peter. After all, to his human ears it must have sounded inviting to think that he would not have to suffer death on the cross. Satan, through Peter, tried to feed this thought into the mind of Jesus.
But Jesus knew God’s will. He recognized the source of the thought and without hesitation he dealt with the source: Satan. He wasted no time, no words, and no feelings were spared.
Why did Jesus deal so drastically with this? It almost seems like an over-reaction, and we want to say, “Lord, go easy on Peter. He was just telling you he didn’t want you to die.” But Jesus would not allow that thought to stay in his mind. We know from Gethsemane what a struggle Jesus had with this bitter cup. He dared not allow Satan, through Peter, to get him thinking about avoiding the cross. He knew God’s will, and he could make no provision for these kinds of evil thoughts.
What do we learn from this? First, we learn that we must recognize the source of thoughts that are contrary to God’s will for us. Second, we must deal drastically with them. We cannot allow them to lodge. We cannot give them one minute’s consideration! They can come to anyone, as they did to Jesus, and from any source, as they did from Peter.
How do you recognize wrong thinking? Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Our standard and judge for right thinking is God’s Word.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul says we are to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” In the context of this verse, Paul is talking about war—the spiritual war which Christians wage. Warfare is the appropriate analogy because, I can tell you, it is not easy. It is not overnight. It is not once and for all. It is a battle to bring your thought life under control.
However, it’s the most important battle we face! If we don’t learn to win these spiritual battles for our minds, we will never be the people God intends us to be. We have to learn to bring our thoughts into captivity in this war for our minds.
How do we do this? What are the limits? Where do we start?
The Bible, of course, gives us the answers. Let me read Philippians 4:8:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.”
This is the secret to controlling your thought life! You must agree to these limits and guidelines for your thinking, and you must be willing to bring your thoughts into these parameters. Paul says we are to bring our thoughts into captivity. That is our part. God will control them, but we must bring them to him.
With that as our background, let’s now look carefully as these boundaries that God has given to govern our thought life.
The first one is TRUE. This is easily understood. We are not allowed to think about things that are not true—which includes the untrue speculations and imaginings that we often indulge in.
For example, do you imagine what may or may not happen and worry about things that have not yet occurred? You are not thinking true thoughts when you do. Jesus told us not to borrow trouble from tomorrow; today has enough trouble of its own. So often we allow our imaginations to lead us into areas of untruth by thinking about what might happen if. . .or by wondering what we will do if. . . These are not true thoughts, and they usually cause us great harm.
Another example is this: Do you indulge in “gossipy” thoughts of others that you don’t know to be factual? These are not true thoughts! They’re not allowed, either.
The second boundary for our thought life is NOBLE. Noble thoughts are those which rise above self-interest. They are thoughts which are not crammed with ideas of our own importance. They are not totally focused on our own agenda and our own circumstances.
How much of our thinking rises above self-interest? This has to come as a conviction to all of us; I know it does to me. How often my thoughts are consumed with what will promote me, my interest, my program, my “self,” and how little of my thinking is focused on what is good for others.
I have a feeling that if we stopped here and made certain all our thoughts were both true and noble, we’d eliminate a great percentage of our current thought life.
But there’s a third limit set on our thinking, and that is RIGHT. Is it fair and equitable? If not, don’t think about it. All of us dislike unfair treatment. Yet how often do we allow ourselves to think unfair and unjust thoughts about others? We mentally accuse others unfairly before we know the facts. We have prejudiced thinking toward people—some of us have prejudiced thinking toward other races and cultures. This kind of thinking is not right, and it is not allowed.
Then, our thoughts must also be PURE. Are they without sin, containing nothing evil? If not, eliminate those thoughts. This covers immoral thoughts and sexual fantasies. Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not saying that sex is an evil thing, a subject never to be contemplated. What I am saying is that impure, lustful thoughts are very strong and very difficult to dismiss. Illegitimate sexual thoughts or fantasies are definitely outside the limits of pure thoughts.
Next comes LOVELY. Is your thought life full of love, and does it inspire love or affection? Many times our thoughts may pass all the other tests, but they’ll fall short on this point. Lovely thinking is caring and compassionate and gentle.
In addition to true, noble, right, pure, and lovely, our thoughts must be ADMIRABLE, or worthy of praise. If we could read what you were thinking, would we admire your thoughts? To be admirable, they must be in good taste, refined, and of a good reputation. This covers more than just impure thoughts. It eliminates distasteful and disrespectful thinking.
There they are—six clear guidelines from God’s Word as to what we’re allowed to think about, and what is out of bounds. True, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. I encourage you to memorize them until you can recite them quickly: true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable!
In Romans 12:1-2, we are told not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the reshaping—or remolding or renewing—of our minds! These six guidelines which I’ve just covered give us the shape and the mold into which our thoughts must fit if we are going to know freedom and have transformed thinking.
What shape is your mind today? Are you indulging in thoughts that exceed these boundaries? Does one boundary give you more difficulty than another? How would you describe your thought life? Do you often find yourself getting into mental areas that are way off limits?
Did you ever ice skate? You know that as long as you stay on the frozen surface, you have all the freedom you want to skate. But if you insist on leaving the boundaries of that frozen pond and get into the bushes, those skates will bog you down and you’ll lose your freedom. You have to stay within the frozen boundaries in order to be free to skate.
The same is true with our thought life. Freedom comes when you stay within the boundaries. A captive mind offers freedom. Exceeding the boundaries always gets you bogged down.
You will begin to have a captive mind by testing your thoughts—by becoming keenly conscious of whether your thoughts fit into these boundaries. We literally must stop and examine our thoughts, one by one, thought by thought, to make sure they fit within our “reshaped” mind.
One translation of 2 Corinthians 10:5 says: “We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ” (PHILLIPS). Are you ready to fight? Are you tired of having a defeated thought life? Remember, what you think is what you are, so if we change our thinking, we change who we are and what we’re like.
I want to issue a challenge to you: Examine your thought life by the guidelines we’ve seen today—true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Find out how much of your thinking falls outside of these boundaries. When you’re starting to feel anxious, angry, frustrated, depressed, or discouraged this week, stop and ask yourself, “What am I thinking? Is it true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable?” If it is not, think of tying a rope around that unacceptable thought and literally pulling it back inside the boundaries of right thinking.
After you’ve done that for a week, you’re going to be amazed at what you discover about your thought life!