What to Do With Unwanted Thoughts (A Biblical Framework)

If you've ever been tormented by unwanted thoughts—intrusive, dark, anxious thoughts that feel true even when you know they're not—this episode is for you. I'm walking through a biblical framework for understanding and responding to intrusive thoughts well. You'll learn the difference between temptation and sin, how to examine unwanted thoughts with 6 diagnostic questions, and practical steps for replacing ungodly thinking with truth.

Transcript

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As disciples of Christ, what do we do with intrusive thoughts? That's a question that plagues a lot of Christians. We all wrestle at times with these unhelpful, intrusive thoughts that plague our minds and torment, torment us. These are thoughts that we don't desire. These are thoughts that trouble us deeply in our soul. And sometimes Christians wrestle when these thoughts come with questions like, well, am I sinning? Should I feel shame? Should I feel guilt when these thoughts are just running around in my mind? And how can I get rid of them? And that's what I want to help us with in this episode. I want to just help develop a biblical framework for how we as Christians should think about and address unwanted, harmful, intrusive thoughts that flood our minds. But before I do, I just got to be honest and say there is no magic silver bullet to just completely change our thoughts overnight. None of us has the power to flip a spiritual switch, so to speak, and to guarantee that we will never wrestle with intrusive thoughts. But we can take the biblical data and try to develop a framework to give ourselves tools in our belt, so to speak, to address these thoughts when they come. And so to lay a foundation, I just want to give two thoughts here on how we can build a biblical framework. And number one is when these thoughts come, don't overreact. Don't overreact. And an intrusive thought popping into your head is not the same thing as voluntarily sinning against the Lord. There's a difference between temptation showing up and enticing you away from the Lord and what you do with that temptation. James 1, 14 through 15 makes this clear when James writes, but each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. So there's a difference in being tempted and enticed by something and then voluntarily giving into that temptation and then letting that temptation give birth to actual sin. And I would not say an intrusive thought inherently is sinful. It's introducing temptation to sin. And I think shame is a killer in this conversation as well, because shame keeps us from getting help with our struggles because we're too embarrassed to talk about our sin struggle. So instead of being open and honest with our church community and asking people who the Lord has placed in our life to walk with the Lord in a manner worthy of the gospel, instead, we might keep these types of thoughts to ourselves because we're embarrassed or we feel shame and guilt. And to help us kind of get over that hurdle, that's why I would say an intrusive thought is not inherently sinful. So, for example, when you wake up in the morning and your mind is just racing with all sorts of thoughts, sometimes those thoughts aren't the most edifying redemptive thoughts, but you didn't necessarily conjure up those thoughts. You weren't chasing after those thoughts. You just started functioning in the day and here they come, right? And so that is not sinful. However, if we allow those thoughts to run their course and we start meditating on them and rehearsing them in our minds and letting them fester, then indeed that temptation can give birth to sin. And so we gotta keep that in mind to guard our hearts from unbiblical ideas of shame that can come from these thoughts. And on that same note, talking about shame, here's a good gospel reminder. God already knows every single dark thought you have ever had and every dark thought you ever will have. And he sent Jesus to hang and die on the cross for those intrusive, sinful thoughts that you have given into and every other sinful thing. Keep that in mind. But second foundational thought is so one is don't overreact, but then on the other end of the pendulum, number two, don't underreact. So just because the first intrusive thought might not inherently be sinful doesn't mean you should just ignore it. So sometimes you might over-correct to the other side and say, well, okay, I don't want to overreact when intrusive thoughts come, but you also don't want to underreact as if, well, it's not a big deal. I'll just let it be what it is, and I'll just let it kind of play its course and just go away. No, we can't underreact either. So, you know, one thought, keep in mind, can turn into a whole pattern of thinking that ultimately dishonors the Lord, right? Seed planted in good soil that receives water and sun gives birth to a plant that is fruitful. If we allow intrusive thoughts to just run their course and to find good soil, so to speak, in our hearts and in our minds, then guess what? We will water that seed with entertaining it uh the thought and then letting it grow into thought patterns, which then leads to behaviors, actions, acts of the will that then dishonor the Lord. Romans 12, too reminds us, commands us rather, do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. In similar fashion, 2 Corinthians 10, uh beginning in verse 3, says, For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. Pay attention to that last sentence. Paul says we demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Paul is calling us to action here, right? He's saying, guys, what I'm this imperative I'm giving you, it takes actual work. You have to pursue the renewing of your own mind. You have to take your own thoughts captive, which the implications is we need a plan. We we need not just good intentions of, well, I desire to obey the Lord my God with my thoughts. But Paul says, okay, good. Now, what's your plan for actually doing that? Because if you don't, well, then your mind won't be renewed. It'll continue to be conditioned by the culture, your flesh, the enemy, whatever other external sources that are coming in and shaping your mind. And so Paul calls us to be proactive. And this is hard for a lot of modern Christians because I think how we think of sanctification is we say, I agree with the Bible that I am to be holy, that I am to pursue righteousness, that I'm to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. And we stop short right there. We just agree and affirm what the Bible teaches, but sometimes there can there can be a lack of just holy grit, holy spiritual discipline and self-control to say, I'm actually going to discipline myself to be that, to be godly, to grow in godliness, to say no to sin and temptation and to say yes to righteousness. Now, what I would like to do is maybe help give some practical ways that you can do just that. When Paul says, because this is a challenge for us sometimes, when we read the Bible and we see great stuff in there, like, yes, take captive every thought, make it obedient to Christ. Yes, tear down anything that is raised up, that is a knowledge base that is contrary to my Jesus and who he is as revealed in Scripture. And we amen all these things, but then the next question is okay, how do I do that? Like, how do I practically make this something that's a a practice in my daily living? How can I turn this academic theology in my head into practical, practical theology that I live out? And so what I would like to do is I'm gonna give six questions to examine your thoughts. When an intrusive thought comes, here's some examination question. Questions number one, is this thought true? Is this thought true? Scripture is our standard. If we believe that the Bible is the authoritative, sufficient word of God, then the Bible should be our standard of objective truth. So when thoughts flood your mind, when an intrusive thought floods your mind, the first question you can ask is, wait a minute, is this true? Is this thought what it's communicating about me, my identity, or my past, or about this person or my circumstance, whatever it may be, is it fundamentally true according to scripture? Not according to how you feel, not according to what you know, mom says, or your cousin or your neighbor or that podcast you listen to, but is it true according to scripture? Is what this thought communicating to me doesn't measure up with what scripture teaches in God's revealed word? Because you want to put your trust in the scriptures because the scriptures are clear. But a second question to ask is Is this thought edifying to my soul? Is this thought edifying to my soul? Not just is this thought technically true, but if I marinate on this thought, if I let it run its course, is it gonna edify me as a disciple of Jesus Christ? Is it something that is agreeable with the fruits of the spirit? Is it wise to dwell on this thing? Is it gonna do me spiritual good? Meditation is a concept in scripture where we take the truths of God's word, whether it's the text of scripture or a theme or a doctrine that's revealed or something about the heart of Christ, and we meditate on that to stir our affections for the Lord, to get the word of God, you know, in us, so to speak. That is a good form of meditation. So when our intrusive thoughts come, we can ask the question well, is this edifying? Will it lead to the same fruitful effect as meditating on God's word? And if the answer is no, then that's a good indicator. This is not a good redemptive thought that I should allow to run its course. And rather I need to be proactive and combat it. Question number three is Does this thought match reality? Does this thought match reality? Listen, sometimes sadness, fear, anger are, you know, real responses, right? We're human beings. There's a whole category in scripture called lament that is a biblical thing. But sometimes we got to ask the question, okay, does this intrusive thought match my actual reality? Or am I overreacting? Is this thought leading me to paint a different picture of what is actually true in my current circumstance? Is it leading me to dramatize what I'm currently walking through, or is what I'm thinking a dramatization of what I'm actually going through? And if that's the case, okay, then let's help ourselves come back to reality, right? To have a sober picture of what we're we're thinking through. A fourth question is is this thought telling me the whole story? Is this thought telling me the whole story, or is it just communicating half truths? Brothers and sisters, a half truth for a Christian is a lie. This is what Satan was known for, right? When he deceived Adam and Eve, uh he he told a half-truth, right? You certainly won't die, he said. And a lot of what he said, when you really go back and pay attention to Satan's tactics, he knows scripture and he knows the truth, but he'll present half-truths as full truths. But a half-truth is never the full truth, it's always a lie. So, for example, an intrusive thought might lead you to despair and spiritual discouragement by just reminding you of your past sin, your past choices, and just say, you know what, you're you're just a sinner. You will never measure up to the holiness and righteousness of God that He requires of all people. That is a true statement, but it is a half-truth, right? Because it stops short of the gospel connection of, yes, I am a sinner, but I'm also simultaneously a sinner, a saint, and a sufferer. Jesus Christ is my righteousness. I look outside of myself for my holiness and righteousness, and I look to Christ, the object of my faith, who lived a perfect life on my behalf and died and rose for my justification. So we have to remind this is why it's important to know our word and to know sound doctrine so that you can speak to yourself. Martin Lloyd Jones once said wisely, you know, no one speaks to us more than we do. No one speaks to us more than we do. We tend in these intrusive thoughts to rehearse all types of thoughts and statements, truth claims that are not even true. And yet, if you're not talking back to yourself with biblical truth, well, then you're indoctrinating yourself through these intrusive thoughts with false truths. And this this is a pattern we see all throughout the Psalms, for example, and in some other New Testament epistles as well. But you see like the psalmist sometimes going through suffering and yet preaching to themselves, like, why am I downcast? Oh, like hoping God, I will again believe in him. And it's like this verbal, okay, wait a minute. I know what I'm feeling, and I know what these thoughts are telling me that God is distant, that God doesn't love me, and that God has abandoned me. But then you see the psalmist reminding himself, but I know that's what I'm feeling in my current experience and in the intrusive thoughts flooded in my mind, but this is not true. Like God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes. He has made all types of promises to me, and he can never lie and go against his word. Therefore, I might feel this way, but it's not the truth of my reality. And so we get in scripture through books of the Bible, examples of how to preach truth to ourselves when we know that our intrusive thoughts are communicating half true. So, question number four, is this thought telling me the whole story? But question number five, what will this thought produce if I keep thinking it? What will this thought produce in me if I keep thinking it? So I guess you could say this is the fruit test, right? Does this intrusive thought lead me towards godliness or ungodliness? If I let this thought run its course, is it training me to love the Lord my God with all my all my heart, my soul, and strength, and my neighbor as myself? Or is it leading me away from the God who sent his son to die on the cross to save me from my sins? So sometimes just asking basic questions like this is some great first steps to develop a pattern of taking captive our thoughts and making them obedient to Christ. Last question, question number six Who does this thought sound like? So when I listen to this intrusive thought, if I just close my eyes and pretended it had an audible voice, who does it most sound like? Does it sound like God's voice in scripture? Does it sound like it's revealing the heart of my father and how he speaks to me according to his word? Or does it sound like somebody else? That is a clear black and white indicator as to whether or not this is an intrusive thought you should allow to run its course, or whether you need to do some heart work and start combating that thought with biblical truth. If it's a condemning thought, if it's a thought leading you to explore the enticing temptation of sin, well, then clearly that's not coming from the heart of your father, his spirit who indwells you, then you need to turn from that thought, take captive of it, rehearse truth to yourself, and do that heart work of sanctification. So who does this thought sound like? Is it is it reflecting the heart of your father in scripture, or is it representing the enemy's voice, your own flesh, the culture, the world? If so, that will help you understand whether this is a redemptive thought that leads to spiritual fruitfulness, or if it leads to spiritual harm and even sin. And I want to encourage the you know, those are just six practical tap uh tips. Do it those what you may. I I can make a longer list, but I think that that's good enough to give you a framework of what I'm trying to help you accomplish here, which is simply just to put some tools in your belt. So when intrusive thoughts come, you can pull these tools out to just do that that uh uh sanctifying work of seizing those thoughts and not letting them lead you, but rather you leading yourself in a manner that pleases the Lord. So, with all that being said, what I'm encouraging us to do here is to respond, not just to resist. Don't just resist, but be proactive at the same time. But with that being said, what I'm not encouraging is trying to white knuckle your way out of a thought. That does not work. You do not have the capacity to just white knuckle yourself to holiness, right? That's just going to lead to spiritual despair when you realize I don't have the power to just overcome sin however I choose. That's not my work. However, you do need replacement, not just resistance. So, yes, resist sinful temptation, sinfully intrusive thoughts, but you also must replace those thoughts with God-honoring thoughts. So you can take a uh an intrusive thought and pray that thought back to God instead of trying to just bury it, right? This is why scripture memorization is good. I love Paul in Colossians 3.16 when he says, seek to have the words of Christ dwelling in you richly. Why? Well, so that as you navigate life in a broken world with the remaining corruption of sin in you, when things like intrusive thoughts come up or temptation, you can pull out God's word and preach truth to yourself. You can take this intrusive thought and say, God, I am struggling right now because my thoughts are flooding me with the shame of my past sin or with the shame or guilt of this or whatever the thought may be. And you can say, Lord, but I know that this isn't true because your word tells me right here in Colossians that I am united with Christ Jesus and that my life is hidden in his. When he died, I die. When he rose, I rose, and he's seated at the right hand of the Father, and I will one day ascend and be glorified with him. So that's why having the words of Christ dwelling in us richly is so beneficial for our sanctification because it gives us the ammunition we need to do the battle of sanctification, so to speak. And so seek to memorize gospel-rich texts of scripture, not just one or two little random verses disconnected from the entire book. Seek to understand entire books of the Bible so that you can rehearse those truths to yourself. But also keep in mind, friends, we have to guard our hearts from being, as Christians, letting our sanctification be led or dictated by our emotions rather than God's word. Sometimes we are guilty of allowing our emotions to lead whether or not we obey the Lord rather than what does God's word reveal. So that's a dangerous place to be. If as Christians we we primarily, because we're all human here, we all struggle with this. No one is perfect, okay? We're not talking about perfection. But if the common pattern in your Christian walk is your emotions dictate how you obey the Lord, then your Christian life is just going to be a spiritual roller coaster. And so we have to fight to recognize I know I feel angry, I know I feel sad, I know I feel abandoned by God. However, if I went through those six questions, what is true? Are these emotions valid? Are they trustworthy? Because sometimes our emotions are not, which is why we should never uh be led by them primarily, but rather we have to be led by God's truth. So, for example, I've been in situations where I've been upset because maybe, you know, someone's confronting me in my sin or, you know, uh criticizing me. And in the moment I feel upset, but at the same time, I recognize, well, wait a minute, like my anger is not justified. It's not righteous anger. I'm in sin. My frustration is sinful anger. It's mixed, it's an admixture of pride, of self-centeredness, of wanting to be viewed a certain way. And so even though I might feel angry, what I need to do to please the Lord is to humble myself, to receive this counsel, to repent of whatever sin I'm being confronted of, and to move forward in holiness. And so we have to guard, even with our intrusive thoughts, not allowing our emotions, because sometimes these thoughts will come, and then what comes with them often is just all sorts of emotions, whether that's sadness, sorrow, grief, guilt, shame, embarrassment, I mean, pride, I can go on and on, but we can't let that then dictate our volition, what we do in obedience to the Lord. And on that note, I would also encourage and warn us against, or not against, but rather we have to examine our influences. What is shaping you that might be the recipe, so to speak, for some of these intrusive thoughts? Because we are shaped by our influences. So you have to ask yourself a few questions. What am I regularly feeding into my mind? For example, what TV shows, media am I intaking, books I'm reading, whatever you're consuming? I mean, this is a broad category. Whatever you're taking in is a regular diet that is shaping and influencing you. So if you regularly are are taking in things that are not in alignment with scripture, that are not God honoring, that are not helping you renew your mind in the pattern of. Of you know, sound doctrine, well, then guess what? You're literally training yourself to invite intrusive thoughts. And remember, 2 Corinthians 10 reminds us our lives are one of spiritual warfare, not just us fighting bad habits, so to speak. Like we there's a spiritual war going on for our hearts and for our minds to lead us to stray away from the God we love. And so I'm not saying as Christians, we need to be, you know, monks who, you know, or um or uh just shutting ourselves away from the world and turning our TVs off and no music or anything like that. But we do need to just be realistic. What are we taking in? How often are we taking it in? And is it shaping the way that I think about my identity in Christ, about my sin, about all sorts of things that could be recipes for allowing these intrusive thoughts to develop and then assault you on a regular basis? So a few closing thoughts to leave you with. Number one, if you're bothered by intrusive thoughts, I would encourage you with that's a sign of God's grace at work in your life. Think about it. If you're a child of God and intrusive thoughts are assailing you, and you are recognizing some of these thoughts are not grounded in the Bible. They are harmful to my spiritual health, they are untruths, they are communicating lies about my identity in Christ, about the gospel, about my sanctification, about the heart of my father. If that's the case, then the fact that you feel a level of discomfort, a level of just discouragement about that is evidence of God's sanctifying grace at work in your soul. Because if you didn't have that feeling, that would be concerning. So that tug of war you're feeling, that struggle, that disgust that you have when these thoughts come is a sign that you are a child of God, that you want to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, and that you do not want to give any place to these thoughts that are trying to lead you to believe and think and behave in ways that are contrary to the gospel that saves you. So, to an extent, when those thoughts come, that could be a platform for prayer and to say, by the grace of God, thank you for saving me. Thank you that because the spirit resides in me, I now can have my eyes, the eyes of my heart, so to speak, illuminated and open to see the world for what it really is, where these thoughts beforehand would have been no problem before I was a Christian. But because the Spirit of God indwells me, I now see this for what it is. This is a lie. This is a deceptive thought trying to lead me to wonder from the God who saved me. And I want nothing to do with that. So intrusive thoughts, to an extent, could be a reminder of God's saving grace in your life just by the nature of you disagreeing with the thought and being troubled by it. But secondly, I would encourage you to remember that a dead heart doesn't care about dark thoughts. If you weren't born again, you would not give a rip about intrusive thoughts. You would care less about these things bothering you. But lastly, God, please hear this. God is not surprised by your dark thoughts. He's giving you what you need to fight these thoughts, even if it might not feel subjectively subjectively and emotionally like it. It doesn't matter because again, we're not led by our emotions, but he has given you everything you need pertaining to life and godliness. Everything you need to take captive your thoughts and make them obedient to Christ is in you right now if you are in Christ. And just keep in mind, God loves you regardless. Meaning, before the foundations of the earth, if you're a Christian listening to this, watching this, before the foundation of the earth, God decided in his grace and mercy that he would send his son to live and to die and to rise in three days for your justification, for your salvation, and he knew good and well every wicked thought, not only that you would entertain in your mind, but even the ones you allowed to give birth to sin. And yet he still said, I will send my son to die for them. Let that be motivation for when these thoughts come to say, I want to fight. Because if God would go to such great lengths to show me that type of love, how on earth could I grieve the spirit of God by letting this thought lead to a temptation that gives birth to sin, to rebel against the God who loves me and has given me his spirit and his word to help me renew my mind? Let's be honest, brothers and sisters, sanctification is not easy. It is a struggle, but it is a joyful struggle. Because when you lived a life of sin, you did not have the spirit of God residing in you. You didn't have God on your side helping you, you know, be molded more and more into the image of Jesus. But now that you're in Christ, even though sanctification is hard, you have all these promises that number one, God's spirit literally indwells you, the same spirit that created the universe is in you. The same power that made Jesus rise from the dead is in you. And because you're pursuing the fruits of the spirit, joyful sanctification, you have the promise from God the Father that he is watching as like a proud father, cheering you on and blessing your efforts to bring about the fruit that he has promised. So work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is Jesus who's at work in you and he will complete what he's begun in you. If this episode has been helpful, I would encourage you to please subscribe to the channel and share this with anyone if you think it'd be of help to them. God bless you.