After being
bullied at school for some time, my son was telling me all the things he wished
would happen to his antagonist. He has quite a vivid imagination. A bit
distressed at his growing bitterness and anger, I gave him my lofty explanation
as to why he can't allow his mind to dwell on the hurtful lies spoken by others
or the dark fantasies his mind contrived to deal with his oppressors. If we as
Christians are to prevent long term injury from occurring while suffering at
the hands of subversive bullies we must use the antidote God provides for this
potentially deadly poisoning of the soul. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul admonishes
us to take every thought captive. The target of psychological attack is the
mind, so the cure must also target the mind. We must take every thought captive
and make it obedient to the Lord, demolishing every thought that sets itself up
against the knowledge of God (His word and the inspiration of His spirit),
whether it originated externally (from the words or actions of someone else) or
internally (from our own emotions and beliefs).
Easy, breezy, any nine year old can grasp this, right? Apparently not. My son looked completely befuddled. In desperation I prayed for inspiration, and bam! Here is the kid friendly version that came to me.
Picture yourself standing in front of Jesus with a big white toilet beside Him. Now picture yourself holding your thoughts as food in your hand. Before you allow your mind to consume (eat) the thought, hand it over to Jesus, and ask Him to help you identify it as either a true thought or a poo thought. True thoughts line up with what He says about you and the purposes He made you for. Poo thoughts are anything that set themselves up against the knowledge of God; thoughts that steal peace, kill joy, or destroy God-given worth, be it your own or someone else’s. If it's a poo thought, it goes straight into the toilet and Jesus flushes it away.
My son grabbed on to this lesson readily, and now desires to set up a skit in which Jesus is hosting a game show where He asks, "Is it a true thought, or a poo thought? Uh-oh, that's a poo thought!" and he pushes down the plunger, eliciting much swirling, gurgling and whooshing from the big white toilet centre stage. Now all I have to say when he starts fuming over possible future injury or ruminating on past slights is "Is it a true thought, or..." and he will smile and say "or a poo thought!”
