Good morning men of God.
How is your thinking going?
You know... your brain... your mind... your thoughts?
Do you feel like you're "losing" your mind or that you have the "mind" of Christ?
Are your thoughts scattered all over the place being drawn to-and-fro with "every wind of doctrine", or are they pure, righteous and godly?
For me... check off "all of the above".
Some days I am pretty good... well at least part of the day ... well maybe an hour or two where I focus on those more spiritual thoughts.... world peace stuff...
That is until I have that messy job at the office to deal with.... or being reminded of that relationship issue.... or maybe it's that pile of bills on the desk... or when Betty Body walks by. Then my mind races to so many places I shouldn't go that I surprise even myself.... I scold myself and sometimes condemn myself..... "I thought you were a Christian?"
I know it's only me, but maybe some of you relate.
2 Cor 10:5 says we are to "take every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (NKJV)....
But that sounds exhausting... take it from me... it IS exhausting!
Every thought? Who can do that?
I can't do that.
I like what the Message version says... "Fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ."
The words "fitting" and "structure" give me hope as they allow me to progressively work on this, not simply Pass or Fail.
Reminds me of Ro 12:2 (NIV)... "do not conform to the patterns of this world..."
Maybe this process is a "structure".... a pattern.... a framework.
I think what the Word is saying is that when a thought, an emotion, an impulse that is a pattern for the way I think, we think, is contrary to the truth of God, this we need to actively and intentionally "capture" and bring into the obedience of Christ... "the structure of the life shaped by Christ."
It is not the individual thought but the pattern of thoughts.
What we say to ourselves.
What we believe about ourselves.
How we see ourselves.
Verse 4 of 2 Cor says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God"
Thinking right is to think within the knowledge of God..... within the structure of the life shaped by Christ.....
Jesus said when asked "what is eternal life"... Knowing God.
I can with this.... you can too.
Strength and Honor, but Only for His Glory,
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