Sins of the Mind

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” (2Co 10:5-6 AV)

There is a debate over the sinfulness of thoughts.  One opinion is that thoughts randomly come into our minds and it is only sin if we dwell on it.  I beg to differ.  The thought, whether we think they are random or not, can be captured and controlled.  Our context tells us so.  There are triggers to thoughts.  Go to a public place that accommodates immodesty (which is pretty much every place but a separated church) and impure thoughts can enter the mind.  Come into our home around the holiday season and I can guarantee you will have thoughts of holiday feasts.  Our environment plays a large part in what we think on.  Our attitude, our heart, and even our physical health can all play a part in our thought life.  If that is so; if stimuli play a large part in that upon which we muse, then our thought life can be controlled.  Which also means that thoughts can be disobedience. 

Try as we may, we cannot think on more than one specific thing at a time.  Some may argue this because multi-tasking is possible.  However, all an individual has done is rapidly organized mini-tasks in an order so that more than on thing can be done.  Our brains are capable of only reasoning one thing at a time.  Which makes the above advice sound advice.  The thought can be cast down and another replace it.  We are not a slave to our emotional or mental person.  They can be trained.  They can be disciplined.  They can be modified.

Years ago, I had this discussion in a Wednesday evening prayer meeting.  There was a hefty debate on the subject.  Some thought that thoughts were unavoidable, and therefore, amoral.  In fact, at the time, most believed this to be so.  But let me ask you a question in the form of a scenario.  A young married couple is walking down the great hallway of a typical mall.  It is summer time.  People are dressed in a less than casual way.  This young couple is newly married.  As they walk down the great hallway, they happen to go by a lingerie store.  The new groom’s attention is drawn to the larger than life advertisement.  His new bride notices and gives him a look that says, “I understand, but you are married now.”  He notices and off they go.  As they continue to walk, they are behind a young lady who is obviously dressed for the purpose of seducing every male that happens to glance at her.  This young groom notices.  The young bride notices that he notices and punches him in the arm.  Was she justified?  How does she know what is going on in his mind?  It could have been movement alone that caused his gaze to briefly rest on what turned out to be an enticing temptation.  She is thinking, “Why did you even look?”  Is she right?

We can, and should, practice the discipline of mental control.  Our passage teaches us it is possible.  It is possible to captivate and control thoughts.  To do otherwise is to walk down the path of disobedience.