Healing Choice: Protecting Your Mind

By Rick Warren

"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).

Your mind is a special gift from God. It can potentially store 100 trillion thoughts. And it is a tool that God wants to use in your ministry to fulfill his purposes.

That's why we have to be choosy. We have to control what--or who--we allow into our minds. What's true of computers is true with humans--garbage in, garbage out.

The Bible says there are five things that we are to guard against:

1. We are to guard our minds against false teaching--The Bible encourages us to contend for, "The faith which was once and for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3 NKJ). That means the Gospel message that's been passed down for 2,000 years. How do you guard your mind against false teachings? Know the truth. If you know the truth, you can instantly spot a lie. Treasury agents are not trained to detect counterfeiting by handling counterfeit bills. They give them real bills and study them so well that when a counterfeit dollar bill is put in their hands, they immediately know that it's false.

2. We are to guard our minds against temptation--Psalm 101:3 says, "I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless" (ESV). That's a good verse to put on your television. When was the last time you actually got up and switched channels because what you were seeing was worthless? When I start to feel tempted, I often say, "Lord, I mentally put on the helmet of salvation that Scripture talks about in Ephesians 6:17." What does a helmet do? It protects my mind. When I do this, I'm saying, "Lord, I want you to cover my mind with your blood. I will be guarding my mind from temptation."

3. We are to guard our minds against counterfeit spiritual experiences--Galatians 1:6-8 says even if an angel tells you something different than what the Word of God says, don't believe him.

4. We are to guard our minds against pride--Pride is the sin that God judges quicker than any other single sin. Aaron got prideful, and God smote him. Uzziah got prideful, and God smote him. Pride is the sin that got Satan kicked out of Heaven. People will tell you things that will puff you up. You have to remain humble and not let pride enter your mind.

5. We are to guard against an overworked mind--We strain our minds too much by overwork. This can cloud our ability to make sound judgments. That's why we need to have a day of rest every week.