2 Cor. 10:5

"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 Cor. 10:5

I woke up this morning around 3am with many thoughts running through my head. I have been thinking about this verse for some time now and want to write out some of what my thinking is. We are told to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. I often wondered what in the world that meant! It was a bit confusing to me, because I take things very literally. I often wondered how you took a thought and made it obedient. I treated my thoughts as if they had a mind of their own (no pun intended). What does it mean? I have always heard the phrase, but never within its context. Paul is warning the people about false teaching and explains to us how he and his companions deal with teachings or thoughts that do not conform to the truth. He says that they demolish arguments and every pretension (claim) that sets itself up against the knowledge of God! In other words, he pushes back on anything that goes against truth as God has established. We live in a world were truth is constantly under attack! It is the strategy of the evil one! Satan is a deceiver and seeks to distort the truth in the minds of people. I believe most followers of Christ go around living their lives constantly believing a deception of the truth instead of clinging to God's truth. Most believers entertain philosophies that set themselves up against the truth of God and live in such a state of confusion. Can I be so bold as to say that most depression that people experience is because they have believed a deception of the truth! For example, when we begin thinking life is about us, we have believed a lie! The truth is that life is about God! Taking that thought captive means to recognize it as a lie and to conform it to the truth! Guys, when we entertain lustful thoughts, we are buying into the lie that women are objects for our pleasure, when the truth is they are a beautiful creation made in the image of God! Sometimes we justify our thoughts and pass them off as normal or natural. We think we need relationships (boyfriend/girlfriend) when the truth is all we need is Christ. We might want a relationship and they are certainly good things, but you cannot find your identity in those relationships! You might think that your worthless, when the truth is you are a valued creation by God not to mention that you are His child! Here is an interesting exercise.

Take some time to evaluate your thoughts:

What do you value in life?
Why is it that you value those things?
What makes you who you are?
What is your purpose?
What is the purpose of life period?
Why do you do the things you do?

All of us operate under a philosophy whether we like it or not. The key is to evaluate and determine if that philosophy conforms with the truth! If not, we are told to take that philosophy (thought) captive and make it obedient to Christ! Rather long entry this morning, but that's what happens when you wake up too early with much on your heart! Have a blessed day!

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