4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 2Corinthians 10:4-5
Is it really possible to take captive every thought I have? How do I take them captive? And how do I then make my thoughts obedient to Christ?
How I used to read this passage was, that I needed to stop and capture my sinful thoughts of vanity, greed, vengeance, lust and the like and keep them from turning into actions. But I never really knew how to make those thoughts obedient to Jesus. So part of my lack of understanding was because I pulled it out of context. When Paul is saying that we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ it is in the context of the church not individuals. Paul is not addressing his listeners and telling them how to keep from having sinful thoughts or even what to do with their sinful thoughts. He is talking about the way the world thinks about things and the way we, who are now in Christ thinks about things. There is an acceptable way of thinking about things in our world, and maybe it doesn’t seem sinful per se, but it is not of God. That I believe is what Paul is talking about. Violence sometimes seems like a reasonable way of dealing with our enemies. Greed is sometimes masked as a reward for our hard work. Selfishness hides behind ambition. Beauty is often paired with lust. Some shows and news publications have turned gossip into a form of entertainment. As people who are in this world but not of this world, as Paul says, Paul councils us to reject the status quo and live and think differently.
So the idea of “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” challenges me to wake up where I have been asleep in my thinking. It challenges me to be conscious of where I have been unconsciously following along with the pattern of the world. It challenges me to question the way I do things and why I do them that way.
10 The Lord nullifies the plan of nations;
He frustrates the plans of peoples.
11 The plan of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has chosen for His own inheritance. Psalm 33:10-12
Tracing our roots back to Adam and Eve, the pattern of man is to reject God’s way of living in harmony with His creation and do things our own way because we convince ourselves that it is better. And as many times as my own way of thinking has failed me, it seems the next time that I am faced choosing my way or God’s way, somehow my way has a strong enough appeal so that I fall for it again. That is the pattern of thinking and living that permeates all of our world.
That is the thinking that we are called to take captive and process those thoughts in accordance to how we see Christ living. God’s pattern for dealing with that is that he takes the mess we make by living that way and, if we insist on doing things our way, He lets us have our fill of it even if it is destroying us. Or if we turn to him, rather than Him destroying what is destroying us, He redeems it. He takes what once was causing death and destruction in our lives and resurrects it and it then becomes the very thing by which he brings life and healing to the world.
So in taking my thoughts captive, I do that by taking the time to stop and question where in my life/thinking am I just following along with this pattern of trusting my way or the way of the world, over God’s way. What are the “patterns and pretensions” that I should be fighting against? My career, relationships, finances, status, recreation, physical fitness. These are all aspects of being human that we all engage in whether we are following Christ or not. The way of thinking about them in Christ is very different than how we might think about them if we are not in Christ. For instance, how should I think about money? What does a “good steward” look like? When does being prudent turn into being stingy or greedy? Or physical fitness? I’m sure Jesus didn’t go to a gym but how did He honor the temple that God’s Spirit resided in? In a culture that is not set up for us to walk many places and creates work environments that encourage sitting, we are forced to be intentional about staying fit. How do we honor God’s temple while not defiling it with vanity?
4 “Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy. 6:4-5
I think anything that we do that everyone is faced with as part of existence and not explicitly a spiritual practice, is something that we have to take some time to question how we do it and are we doing it in a way that honors and reveals the nature of God or goes against that nature?
Thank you for your insightful, Spirit revealed thoughts. As difficult as it is, I do believe it is imperative to be intentional, moment by moment, with taking our thoughts captive in order to live in this world but not of this world, facilitating our spiritual growth to become who He created us to be.
Just read this scripture that made me think of your post.
James 1:21
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.