Everything related to God’s will for our lives has to do with being saved and being sanctified.  That is the sum of God’s will for His children and every situation, every encounter, every thought should conform to the pursuit of God’s will for us.

The idea to take every thought captive is a popular verse in men’s bible study, usually referring to lust and temptation, but the application of these verses must go way beyond lust and eye candy.

One thing that I have noticed is a tremendous need to take every thought captive not only within my own mind, but also those coming from other people.  In the last few years I have received a tremendous amount of advice on a variety of topics from relationships to finances to career to health and so on.  Where it is nice that people want to help, the truth is that it can be a problem when people don’t know what they are talking about.  It has been my experience that people within my circle of influence are anxious to help and have no idea they are often doing harm.  When taking advice from other people,  we must consider that it is the thought that counts, not the people.  Sometimes we are too quick to take advice from someone because of who they are to us. We know they mean well, we generally respect their opinions, we believe they want the best for us, and they share our faith, so this must be good, right? Well not so fast!  It is so important to use discernment and evaluate the content we are putting in our minds and hearts, check it against scripture and cling to what is true.  It doesn’t mean we don’t love them, it just means that we are holding them to the same standard God requires of ourselves.  Sometimes a kind word can make a situation more palatable or provide comfort, but if it runs contrary to God’s word, then we need to be aware of it and act on it.  Now I am completely aware that not everything is so black and white, but many things are.  I would also suggest that even the grey areas lean black or white when you examine motives, implications and fruitfulness.

We are destroying speculation and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ

2 Corinthians 10:5

Sometimes we might agree with the advice because it is really what we want to hear, maybe we are just looking for justification to do what we want or what is easy.  A couple of years ago, a friend of mine had asked my advice on marriage, he was thinking of ending his.  As he claimed the same faith as me, we reviewed the biblical grounds for what he wanted and determined that he should not do it.  He also received advice from a life long friend of his who confirmed for him that he needed to get a divorce because God wants him to be happy.  He is divorced now pursuing his happiness.  In this situation, I believe that he was looking for someone to tell him what he had already decided to do.  There were quite a few thoughts leading up to his decisions that were never captured, allowed to take root and manifest in destructive actions.

In another example, I was having dinner with a good friend a few months back and we were discussing a situation I am dealing with.  Now I have known this man for years and greatly value his opinion, but I sensed he was trying to tread lightly.  As the conversation progressed, he told me what I already knew. “You know people we know are going to judge you and frown upon that.”  As he and I chatted, I knew that every thought coming from him was congruent with scripture, but the burden was on me to know if what I was being told was true.  It would have been easy to blindly accept his advice, after all we have been friends for years, I was in his wedding, we’ve done ministry together, he went to seminary, but the truth is that none of that matters if I cannot take what he is telling me and see if it holds up in the light of scripture.

So how do we go about taking every thought captive?  These are some things I try to practice:

1. Read my bible, meditate on it and pray scripture; it’s amazing how many times a verse comes to mind right in the middle of a temptation or situation.

2. If something comes up you are not sure about, pray, check your bible and use your bible tools to research it.  Bible, Concordance, dictionary, commentaries and study bible notes.

3. When people offer me advice, I listen, but then I always ask them to commit to praying for my situation.  Then I will follow up with them to see if I can glean any wisdom.  Most of the time what I learn is that they didn’t pray which often nullifies their advice in my mind.

4. I try and learn from other peoples mistakes. When they offer advice, whether it is good or bad, I try and learn what I can from their experience, but still filter it through the bible.  I want to be careful not to confuse wordly, social success with godly, biblical success. 

Everything related to God’s will for our lives has to do with being saved and being sanctified.  That is the sum of God’s will for His children and every situation, every encounter, every thought should conform to the pursuit of God’s will for us.  Every thought leads to actions, every action leads to habits, every habit defines our character.  Our character dictates how we relate to God and how we treat other people and ultimately when it comes to our attainment of God’s moral character, in the pursuit of holiness, it starts with every thought!