Take Captive

My thoughts and feelings have been getting to know each other lately.  It hasn’t always gone well. It seems like feelings prefer to be in charge and they don’t like it when someone questions their authority.  See here.

I think it is interesting that we grew up in a generation that values skepticism, being informed, and never following anything blindly.  We valued thinking for ourselves. So it surprises me that we also live in a generation that listens to the demands of our feelings without holding them to any standard.

We live in a world where feelings are unquestionable, and truth is relative.

Our feelings are real, but they are not always truth.  And that is a significant difference.

The Bible tells us to dwell on what is good, noble, and just.  But often our feelings are not always those things. While we can feel joy and peace, enthusiasm and excitement, those feelings are often fleeting.  The tough feelings are a little more persistent. Sadness, loneliness, fear. Bitterness, covetous, betrayal. Those tend to stick around longer. And giving them too much attention leads us down a rabbit hole of emotions that draw us deeper and deeper into pits of victimization and self pity.  Farther and farther away from the good and just things that we are called to.

But our feelings are our feelings.  How are we to deny them a place at the table?

That is a place I found myself recently.  In an effort to not be “too much”, I have always dealt with a tendency to deny and suppress.  To reject anything that didn’t seem pleasant and agreeable. But there is some truth to the idea that feelings should not be denied or ignored.  Because even in my effort to reject the feelings that were less than pleasant and socially acceptable, I was creating an environment conducive to an explosion.  They whispered up from the deep places I buried them, gradually growing louder and louder. Convincing me that, yes, I was committing a great injustice by not letting my emotions explain their side of the story.  

So they took a stand front and center, and I heard them out.  The more I gave them consideration, the more power they acquired.  Without me realizing, I handed over control to my feelings, which then informed my thoughts.  And instead of being empowered, justified, and restored, I became exceedingly more volatile. My life and security was balance on the shaky ground of my feelings, never knowing quite which way they were going to throw me from day to day.

In Corinthians, Paul calls us to “take every thought captive”.  In doing so, he gives a strategy for being free from bondage of feelings, and be empowered.  

Taking captive does not mean ignoring any thought or feeling that doesn’t feel acceptable.  Denying their existence, fooling yourself into thinking they are not real. (Like I said, they are real… they just might not be true.) That just leaves them free to roam, gaining strength, planning their next attack.  He says take them captive.

How do you take something captive?  You move toward it. Not turning away, or running the other direction.  You face it, acknowledge it. You take it into your possession.

Taking our thoughts and feelings captive gives us a moment to studying them.  Identify them. Maybe even let them argue their case briefly. But it does not give them authority.  It gives us a chance to give it a name, and let it stand trial.

We do not become a victim, we become prosecutor and jury.  And we allow God to be judge. We call out inconsistencies, identify falsehoods, concede validities.  Then we hold them accountable to truth. What Truth? The unmoving, unshakable, timeless Truth of scripture.  The only constant in an ever changing world.

We are created as beautiful beings who feel deeply, but are also capable of reason.  We are made to “Worship in spirit and in truth.”

In the strength of Christ, we both feel deeply and walk in truth.  He can help us to discern what is of Him, and deny what is harmful.  He can lead of to set our minds on things above, and help us to dwell on what is noble, just, and good.  We must decide with our mind to submit ourselves to Him, the author and creator of all things. Ane being willing to embrace what He calls good.  And also be willing to lay down what is not aligned with His character or our purpose. We must be willing to be renewed in both heart and mind.

2 Corinthians 10:5 “We must take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.”