Do you always say what you think? Some of you might wear that trait as a badge of honor, while others are thinking of someone who probably speaks a little too hastily.

You know the type, the person that can’t seem to ever let well enough alone. They’ll always find someone doing something the wrong way or who has the wrong political view and speak up. They’ll throw critiques or challenges out there without really giving thought to how it might affect the other person. Their opinion must be shared. They argue on social media, they post controversial topics to get a rise.

Some people may not be guilty of all of those things at once, but they still fall into that pattern of behavior and hold a reputation for always saying what they think. For others, most of us, we struggle in more subtle ways: a sarcastic remark here, a passive-aggressive jab there. Or maybe our struggle is more internal—our pride, our jealousy, lusts of the flesh, anger.

What am I talking about here?

Thoughts.

Our thoughts are the source and catalyst for everything we do—including how we represent and point people to Jesus. But we often feel stuck with our thoughts, like we can’t control them. You know that song that always gets stuck in your head… I’m sorry.

And there’s an element of truth to that—our initial thoughts can’t really be controlled (or can they? keep reading!) but we can control what we do with them.

Take Every Thought Captive

2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

What does that mean? How do we take thoughts captive? You can’t see a thought. You can’t put it in a box or lock it in a cage.

Here’s how I like to think of it.

You know how you’re supposed to get to the airport like way before your flight? That’s so that you can get through the TSA security checkpoints and get to your gate in time to sit there for an hour before your delayed flight starts boarding.

But what happens in those TSA checkpoints? Every potential passenger is stopped and checked before they can enter the gate area. You could say that every passenger is held captive by those nylon belt stanchion line divider things.

Every potential passenger is held captive and assessed for their motivation, intent, and threat level. This is for everyone’s safety, and it’s in our best interest.

That’s the exact picture we see in 2 Corinthians 10:5 (okay, maybe not exact because I doubt Paul was thinking about planes or TSA, because planes weren’t invented yet[citation needed]).

We are to stop every single thought in our mind before it becomes a word, an action, or a belief. If that sounds tiring, you’re not wrong. But the cost of discipleship is high.

It may mean much slower speaking. It may mean logging out of Facebook, for good. It may mean finally addressing that side of your personality that you’re so proud of but is actually a source of division and hurt. It’s going to mean dealing with some things.

Stop every thought dead in its tracks, and ask it what it’s doing there.

Puritan Stephen Charnock says it this way: “Inquire what business they have there, and what their design is. Bring every thought to the test of the word of God.”

I love this picture of almost having a conversation with yourself as thoughts roll through your brain and asking where it came from, what it’s doing there, and what its intent is. Thoughts will have two aims, at their deepest root: to satisfy the self or to glorify God. Determine which as you think it and deal with it accordingly.

Allow, Correct, Remove

As you scrutinize and examine your thoughts, there are three options, just as there at TSA checkpoints.

When going through the airport, whether you are required to go through the full body scan or a simple metal detector, there are three possible options for you to go forward:

1. Everything checks out. Nothing amiss, so you may proceed. These are the pure thoughts, the ideas that are godly, will glorify God and not simply satisfy the flesh.

2. Something needs corrected. If you’re anything like me, you never catch anything the first time you go through a checkpoint. I always forget my belt or my watch or some other silly thing and have to go back through. Or my little travel shampoo was too big and needs to be thrown away. These are those brief thoughts of pride or envy that we can stop in their tracks and correct. Rather than be prideful about being a good teacher, redeem that and give it to the Lord, recognizing that every good gift is from Him in the first place. Correct it.

3. Complete Removal. Sometimes there are threats that must be removed and not allowed to pass through security at all. These are thoughts that cannot and should not be fixed—they must be eliminated thoroughly before they cause more damage. This often requires even more extreme measures, because these thoughts will be deeply rooted in an idol in your life. So you must remove the idol. As the saying goes, there can be no sacred cows. This is the idea Jesus mentions in Matthew 5 about cutting off your right hand if it causes you to sin. There is no limit to the lengths we should go to remove sin from our lives. If you notice yourself justifying it more and more, take caution! That which we defend the most is often our strongest idol.

Control Your Thoughts

Now, it’s true to some degree that we can’t really control our thoughts (which is why we need to address them with extreme prejudice as they enter our minds). Just like those commercial jingles or your kid’s favorite TV show’s theme, they jump into your mind uninvited and wreak havoc.

While we can’t control our thoughts, we can control their source.

Where do thoughts come from? Out of the overflow of our hearts and the outpouring of what we put into our mind. Do you find that more and more thoughts need to be corrected? Look at what you’re putting into your mind.

We so badly want to justify what we watch and what we listen to, because the nature of these things is addictive—but we never consider the damage it’s doing to us. “I watch it for the story, I ignore everything else,” we say. But those things are still entering our thoughts, and we have an enemy who cannot wait to nurture those seeds into an aggressive, choking weed that will hurt us.

If you want to control what you think, control what you consume.

Beyond that, address your thoughts as you think them, and deal with them accordingly.

Take every thought captive to obey Christ.