In case you missed it, China had a balloon make its way across our country recently. It was in the news, on Saturday Night Live, and, eventually, in the ocean off the coast of South Carolina.
What were they doing? Well, if you’re really asking that question, I’ve got some oceanfront property to sell you in Nebraska at real estate market prices from a couple of months ago.
Not to be political, but it’s a good thing we shot it down. I’m not sure if I’d want to risk the images they may have captured of me doing absolutely nothing going public. I shudder at the thought of those images falling into the wrong hands.
But I shudder more at the thought of other things floating by without us taking action against them: our thoughts.
One of the false narratives being pushed by “experts” everywhere is that we have absolutely no control over our thoughts. Ironically, these same experts probably have an app or a product to sell you that will help you manifest a better life by telling yourself you’re all that and a bag of chips.
Hey, can someone shoot down that worn out phrase? Please??
Sure, there are things known as intrusive thoughts, and they are appropriately named because, like an intruder, they tend to intrude on our regularly scheduled thought patterns with things we wouldn’t normally think about.
If you don’t think you have intrusive thoughts, you aren’t paying attention to your thoughts. Or, you’ve never had a neighbor break out the leaf blower before 7a on a Saturday. Trust me, that can lead to all kinds of intrusive thoughts that none of us would actually want to admit to in a court of law.
And guess what? We won’t have to because we never actually acted on those thoughts. Apparently, we have more control over those intrusive things than we think we do. Again, I’m talking about our thoughts, not our neighbors. No one really has any control over their neighbors.
There are countless things that I love about God, but right up at the top of the list is the way He gave us some built-ins when He created us. One of those? The ability to shoot down intrusive thoughts that are far more dangerous than that thing full of hot air that the Chinese used to take pictures of us.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV, emphasis mine)
Intrusive thoughts will come. About that, the experts are correct. But God knew they would come, and He gave us a way to help them leave, too. We demolish them. We take them captive. In short, we don’t allow them to stay, but not because we try not to think about them. That would be like pretending there actually wasn’t a balloon floating across the country! We take them captive by shooting them down with truths about Christ.
Truth is the weapon we use against thoughts. When thoughts break in to our minds that are contrary to what we know the Word says about Jesus, we shoot them down with truth missiles.
“I can’t do anything right” becomes “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” (See Philippians 4:13)
“I’m a loser” turns into “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Check out Philippians 3:8)
But you can’t fire what you haven’t loaded, and that’s why time in the Word is so important. Make it a habit to load up on truth missiles every morning so that you’re ready to shoot down the things that float across your mind during the day.
And if you’ve got any missiles left over, feel free to take out any strange balloons that might be floating around, too. Our nation will thank you for your service.
