Who wants to be held captive? Just the idea of it makes me want to run the other way. Like most people of our culture, this sounds like the opposite of freedom. Ah, it’s another paradox of the faith: captivity is freedom in the realm of Christ.
II Corinthians 10:5
[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) . . . [Amplified]
I remember visiting a church once and being totally turned off. The message was about the “mind” and all its evils. The mind was the whole problem, he said. The mind caused every sin and every mistake. The mind was to blame. Both Mike and I walked out of there to never return. At that time, we equated the mind with intelligence, creativity, and logic, not evil.
But now, I think I have a clearer understanding of the mind’s role in my faith. The mind is the initiator of all things: both good and bad. The spark of an idea comes from the mind. Christ dwells in the mind as well, but without a whip. The mind must be tamed with love.
To bring the mind into captivity is to harness the thoughts that may initiate the wrong direction, a poorly conceived plan and unintended consequences.
The mind is where resentments can grow unfettered. The mind is where “Pete and Repeat” live: they go over and over the words someone said to me or what I should have said back or worse, reminding me of what I did or said that hurt others. Pete and Repeat live in a cesspool of words and feelings.
There are two possible solutions. One is to use the Jesus duct and to allow that cesspool to drain periodically. If not, it gets so full, eventually, one way or another, that stuff starts building a home in the heart and coming out of the mouth. The second solution is to put those thoughts and words and feelings into captivity first, before they get too powerful, too sullen, too belligerent, too stubborn to remain corralled.
My picture of such a thing is a corral with little delinquents running around, hurting each other with name calling, punching and the like. And there is Jesus walking among them, laying a hand here or there, touching a head, or blowing away the hurt like a mom does for her little baby who fell down. He sits in the middle of the muck and slowly, their curiosity gets the better of them and they come closer and closer, to listen, to touch, to be healed, and to be renewed.
This captivity is a place where broken things are made whole again.
I yield.
Meditations from Zion 
My husband Dave sent me this post because he thought it would interest me, and he was right!
I am one of those people with a mind that is constantly “on.” Thoughts are always running through my head – some positive, some negative, some beneficial, and some harmful.
While I believe that God gave me my always-alive mind to do good, there are certainly times when the negative thoughts get the best of me, leading me down paths I’m better off avoiding. In these cases I’ve found that memorizing short Bible verses or prayers can work wonders; when I become aware of a stream of harmful thoughts, I intercept them (or rather, allow the strength of Jesus to intercept them) by focusing all of that mental energy on repeating the verse or prayer.
That’s one way that I allow my mind to be held captive by God instead of by its own will.
This is a really good way to get the mind back on track. I know some people listen to music or read. One day, though, I’d like to get to the point where I recognize it happening and release those thoughts into the virtual corral. 🙂
Thanks for the insights, Irm. Your insights help me put into perspective the difference between the thoughts that cause me to be in bondage and the thoughts that “allow my mind to be held captive by God.” Another practice to exercise.
Thanks Janis. I appreciate you taking the time to read and share. We’re in this one together.