09/02/2025
One of the greatest challenges of the Christian life is learning to control our thoughts instead of letting them control us. We all know what that’s like—thoughts of food, resentment, despair, revenge, lust, greed, or envy racing through our minds. How do we take hold of them and not let them take hold of us?
Maybe late in the morning, you’re getting hungry. You still have an hour to go before lunch, but your mind starts to drift toward food. You begin to think about what you’re going to have for lunch, where you could go, what restaurants are nearby, and how much lunch will cost. Then you begin to dwell on what kind of snack you might have in your office or kitchen that could hold you over until lunch. Should it be something healthy or a Snickers bar, just because it’s quick and convenient? And the next thing you know, you’ve spent an hour thinking about something that has taken your mind from wherever it was supposed to be.
Thinking about food is one thing. Thinking about resentment, despair, revenge, lust, or greed is something else. Much deeper. Much more consuming. No pun intended.
The Apostle Paul tells us to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). This sounds like a choice we can make, a discipline we can develop; for if we don’t, then our thoughts will take us captive and make us obedient to their own ends.
I meet monthly with a Spiritual Director to help me discover tools and pathways for spiritual growth. He recently recommended a book that states, “A serious seeker must undergo training to redirect the mind in order to follow a spiritual path” (Thoughts Matter, xxi). Though I don’t subscribe to everything in the book, the redirection of the mind sounds similar to Paul’s words in Philippians, when he writes, “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” (Philippians 4:8).
According to an article published by the Wharton School of Business, the average person may produce 50,000 thoughts a day, and 95% of those thoughts are on repeat (Think This, Not That, 7). What if some of those thoughts are untrue? What if they are false? What if they are deceptive, alluring, drawing us away from truth in Christ and toward selfishness, greed, or even self-destruction?
The key is to think about your thinking. Become conscious of your thoughts one thought at a time. Don’t be mindless about your mind. Choose thoughts that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. And when a rogue thought enters your mind that is NOT true, noble, right, pure, etc., make sure it is fleeting and not forming.
Redirect your mind. How so? Through tools that we can all apply.
1. Memorize Scripture. “Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You” (Ps. 119:11).
2. Practice the presence of God through continuous prayer (1 Thess. 5:17).
3. Develop healthy habits that keep your mind engaged in God’s goodness and not your pernicious problems (Mk.1:35).
4. Seek out godly counsel to confess your sins, so that you are not holding on to any darkness but exposing it to the light (Jm. 5:16).
5. Engage in serving others, because a mind focused on the needs around you is less likely to have an unhealthy fixation on what’s going on inside you (Phil. 2:3-4).
It's not easy to redirect our thoughts, but we can, slow and steady, one thought at a time.
So, now, brothers and sisters, have your minds set on things above,
not on earthly things, because the mind governed by the flesh is death,
but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace (Colossians 3:2; Romans 8:6).
