Take captive my thoughts.

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (ESV) [emphasis mine] 

“I think I’ll just be happy today.”

The coffee mug caught my attention as I browsed the local drug store.  I had come in for just a few items and had been charmed by their gift selections and local products.  The travel mug was one of a dozen that I had briefly glanced over before finding my eyes caught by the design and saying.

This came after a rather inauspicious start to my day.  It should have held promise as it was a non-school day, and for teacher that can be worth its weight in gold.  Yet I woke to an all too familiar weight in my mind and on my heart.  The weather was appropriately dreary, matching my mood, as clouds had settled in.  As I drove to the store, icy cold rain began to fall.

Have you experienced those days?  The ones where you don’t really want to get out of bed but would rather bury yourself under the cover and forget the world exists.  Those days were constant companions for several years for me and infrequent companions ever since.  

During that particular time of my life, I struggled to find answers, solutions, healing.  I tried counseling, medication, running away, a new start.  I prayed, journaled, read my Bible, quit church, restarted church.  Mostly, it worked.

There were days though, days like this one, where I felt like all the progress and healing I had been making was all for nothing.  My discouragement ran deep as I realized just how far I still had to go in my healing.  As I dwelt on the darkness and discouragement of my thoughts, I ran my errands.  The menial tasks never pause when you’d most like them too.

While I was in the drug store, the coffee mug jumped out at me since I was definitely not happy.  But more than that, it made me pause – my thoughts and my perspective shifted.  “I think I’ll just be happy today” – just another cheesy slogan gracing the face of a travel mug.  Speaking to a deep-seating desire in far too many people for happiness, and perhaps more deeply for joy and peace.  I was reminded of that passage in Corinthians, the one where we are told to take captive every thought.  This passage has often been frustrating to me because I wondered exactly what that meant.  How do I take my thoughts captive when they are so overwhelming?

I then realized that I didn’t know the full verse.  I looked up the rest of the verse, and it read: “We destroy argument arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5).  Well, the rest of the verse did not help me too much, until I read the preceding verses.  They said, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).

Things started to click.  Taking captive my thoughts is not something that I can always just control; this would require supernatural strength.  My struggles could have physiological implications, and they do, but they also have spiritual implications.  Counseling and medication would help, but I also needed my relationship with God.  Taking my thoughts captive would mean focusing on God in new and different ways.  I could trust that my relationship with Him would renew my mind (Romans 12:2) and renew my strength (Isaiah 40:31), and thus begin to transform the patterns of my mind.

Time passed – weeks, months, a year.  Most days were better than others, but some, some were the absolute worst.  Days like the one I drove to the drug store and bought a mug that reminded me that my thoughts, my emotions could be changed.  I learned to look for God in the simple moments of each day.  I saw Him work in big and small ways, surprising and tender moments.  I sought God, and He was always waiting to be found.  Slowly, I began to find a pattern, and I learned how to take captive my thoughts.  I was not always successful, and sometimes, I needed a bit of a kick in the pants to remember what God was teaching me.  But God was always gracious though, offering tough love or tender concern – whatever I needed.

Today, I still struggle, but I have hope, confidence, and freedom.  Christ offers you hope as well.  We have power in God to fight the battles and brokenness in our world and in our lives.  He does not leave us on our own.  He loves us too much to leave us in our brokenness; God wants to transform us into new creations in Christ, and He gives us the power through His Spirit to transform.