Have you thought much about your thoughts lately? Scholars from psychology to spirituality write about the importance of thinking about what we are thinking about. Some refer to what’s going through our brain and inner life as an “inner narrative,” or simply, “self-talk.” Our narrative is formed by many different sources, some of them are out of our control. Our narrative becomes the story we tell ourselves about what life is about and how to live it. We can talk ourselves into life-giving actions that bless others or, sadly, we can talk ourselves into harming ourselves or others. The authors of the Bible were way ahead of the psychologists on this one. Paul told the Corinthian church to “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.” That takes some effort and assumes we know what obedience to Christ looks like. It may surprise you to read this but we actually have freedom to choose what our minds dwell on. Dallas Willard wrote that this is the ultimate freedom of the believer. With the Spirit’s help we can claim this freedom and begin the process of growth in Christ. As you are well aware, there is a battle for our minds. We are being assaulted with images, words, music and ideas that try to lure us from life with God. We’ll be reminded on Sunday that we must become militant with our thoughts. We are told to “arm our minds.” How do we do that? We don’t have to leave the New Testament to figure it out but we’ll need to pay attention to how we are thinking and be humble enough to admit what is wrong when we are confronted with true truth.