Think Like a Christian on Topics Not in the BibleEsimerkki

Day 3: Thinking Rightly About Everything

During my college days, I was involved in a campus ministry that valued memorizing Scripture. We actually carried around verse packs so that anybody interested enough to ask us, “What is your latest verse?” would receive an answer. I know this makes my campus ministry sound like a bunch of Christian nerds, but the accountability-enhanced Scripture memory that I amassed during my college days still serves me almost four decades later.

One of my verses was 2 Corinthians 10:4-5: “Since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ” (CSB). It is a recurring theme throughout Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth that our adversaries are not material but spiritual; not so much about physical entities but more about ideas.

But how are we to “Take every thought captive to obey Christ”? I used to think it was by thinking only about the right things. Perhaps we could take every thought captive to obey Christ by obeying Paul’s teaching in Philippians 4:8: “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.” There is certainly wisdom in thinking about true and honorable things. We would all do well to occupy our minds with pure, just, and lovely things.

But I don’t think that is the primary meaning of Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians. Rather than limiting our thinking to only the right things, Paul wants us to think rightly about everything. The proper way to take thoughts captive to obey Christ is to see with Jesus’s eyes, have his perspective, and think his thoughts about all that we encounter. I know; that’s easier said than done. But the Holy Spirit is committed to transforming us into the image of Christ (2 Cor 3:18). This is not about changing our appearance. It has everything to do with changing our hearts and our minds. And the Scriptures give ample instruction on how we can work with the Spirit as he does his amazing task of making us Christlike.