Post by George on Nov 27, 2007 0:40:59 GMT -5
Obedience to Christ
(2Co 10:5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
This is a fairly long verse and it is also packed with things we need to work very hard to rid our lives of. At the outset it may be thought this is a rather high calling and extremely difficult especially because it tells us to bring EVERY thought to the obedience of Christ. Let me try to dissect and define this verse in order to make it a bit easier to understand how we can apply it to our lives.
Casting down literally means to demolish or destroy. Demolish or destroy what? The very next word, imaginations, has to do with the thoughts of men. It pertains to the things we can think up on our own. It literally means reasonings. The things that we can reason out on our own such as daydreams, devices, schemes, plans and such distracting thoughts that are conjured up in our own minds without the leading of the Holy Spirit.
(1Co 1:25) Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Then we see reference to “every high thing.” If one takes the time to ponder this phrase one may be able to determine the meaning of it as applies to our lives. The high things referred to here are every proud thought of the heart and every great swelling word of vanity. Here we see reference to our old nemesis: pride. The high things are referring to personal pride and conceit. That can be borne out in a bit as we get toward the next part of the verse. It might be wise here to take a look at the book of Proverbs and see all the negative references to pride and the damage it can cause in our lives.
The very next phrase proves out what I have said in the first two instances about reasonings and pride. They exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. As here used to exalt means to hold higher or to raise up and refers to the things of ourselves. These things exalt themselves against the knowledge of God because God has placed much in the Bible concerning these two areas of pride and reasonings or imaginations.
Recall that Jesus said: (Joh 15:5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
The apostle Paul wrote: (Rom 7:18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Jesus said that we can do nothing without Him and Paul wrote that no good thing dwells in us. Do you know what is good about George Groce or any of us for that matter? Nothing! There is not one single good thing about any of us without God. We have nothing and we are nothing without Him in our lives. We do not even have any power to do anything right without the Holy Spirit.
(Act 1:8a) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
Any power we may have we only get after the Holy Spirit indwells us.
That brings us to what is possibly the most difficult part of this verse to actually apply to our lives. “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” You may be saying, “Wow,” does it really say EVERY thought? It truly does. Let me give you both a spiritual and a practical way to accomplish this.
First of all this problem is addressed in Proverbs:
(Pro 16:3) Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Do you see that? If our works are committed to The LORD our thoughts SHALL be established. That means established in truth and wisdom rather than the random, fleshly thoughts of man. In other words, if our thoughts are going haywire we are not doing something correctly. From what we are told in Proverbs what is lacking is doing things that are committed to God. If our thoughts are going astray we can pray. If our thoughts are going astray we can read our Bibles. If our thoughts are going astray we can fellowship with a fellow believer. If our thoughts are going astray we can work on our next Sunday school lesson if we are a teacher or our next sermon if we are a preacher. I recall some years back in a secular musical of which I have forgotten the name; there was a song that had a line which said, “The idle mind is the devil’s playground.” All I can say to that is AMEN!
As to the practical solution let me share something with you my Pastor taught in a Sunday school class not too long ago. In order to change or control our thought patterns it is vitally necessary to do so within the first FOUR seconds. Think about that. If we do not take action within the first four seconds that gives us time to think that thought we do not want or need a second time. Then it will be there a third time and so forth. Ponder this: Thoughts become desires, desires become actions and actions become habits. There are many habits we do not need in our lives. They are really too endless to name but most of us are aware of them. However some habits are valuable and a great blessing.
We can develop the habit of reading and studying our Bibles.
(Heb 5:14) But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The phrase “by reason of use” as used here literally means by force of habit. It is speaking of the force of habit of reading our Bibles and applying them to our lives. Of course just about everyone who is a Christian is aware of the following verse:
(2Ti 2:15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Oh by the way, since the Bible tells us to study so we can rightly divide the word of truth that means there is someone out there who is not rightly dividing the word of truth. The only way we can discern whether or not a man is rightly dividing the word of truth is to study our Bibles.
We can develop the habit of prayer.
(2Ti 2:15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We can develop the habit of family devotions.
(Pro 22:6) Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
You see friends, there are ways we can fulfill the commands of the verse quoted from 2 Corinthians. It is not some impossible task. What it takes is for us to apply ourselves, as God would have us do and not give in to senseless and worldly things that draw us away from God.
In Christ,
George
(2Co 10:5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
This is a fairly long verse and it is also packed with things we need to work very hard to rid our lives of. At the outset it may be thought this is a rather high calling and extremely difficult especially because it tells us to bring EVERY thought to the obedience of Christ. Let me try to dissect and define this verse in order to make it a bit easier to understand how we can apply it to our lives.
Casting down literally means to demolish or destroy. Demolish or destroy what? The very next word, imaginations, has to do with the thoughts of men. It pertains to the things we can think up on our own. It literally means reasonings. The things that we can reason out on our own such as daydreams, devices, schemes, plans and such distracting thoughts that are conjured up in our own minds without the leading of the Holy Spirit.
(1Co 1:25) Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Then we see reference to “every high thing.” If one takes the time to ponder this phrase one may be able to determine the meaning of it as applies to our lives. The high things referred to here are every proud thought of the heart and every great swelling word of vanity. Here we see reference to our old nemesis: pride. The high things are referring to personal pride and conceit. That can be borne out in a bit as we get toward the next part of the verse. It might be wise here to take a look at the book of Proverbs and see all the negative references to pride and the damage it can cause in our lives.
The very next phrase proves out what I have said in the first two instances about reasonings and pride. They exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. As here used to exalt means to hold higher or to raise up and refers to the things of ourselves. These things exalt themselves against the knowledge of God because God has placed much in the Bible concerning these two areas of pride and reasonings or imaginations.
Recall that Jesus said: (Joh 15:5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
The apostle Paul wrote: (Rom 7:18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Jesus said that we can do nothing without Him and Paul wrote that no good thing dwells in us. Do you know what is good about George Groce or any of us for that matter? Nothing! There is not one single good thing about any of us without God. We have nothing and we are nothing without Him in our lives. We do not even have any power to do anything right without the Holy Spirit.
(Act 1:8a) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
Any power we may have we only get after the Holy Spirit indwells us.
That brings us to what is possibly the most difficult part of this verse to actually apply to our lives. “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” You may be saying, “Wow,” does it really say EVERY thought? It truly does. Let me give you both a spiritual and a practical way to accomplish this.
First of all this problem is addressed in Proverbs:
(Pro 16:3) Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Do you see that? If our works are committed to The LORD our thoughts SHALL be established. That means established in truth and wisdom rather than the random, fleshly thoughts of man. In other words, if our thoughts are going haywire we are not doing something correctly. From what we are told in Proverbs what is lacking is doing things that are committed to God. If our thoughts are going astray we can pray. If our thoughts are going astray we can read our Bibles. If our thoughts are going astray we can fellowship with a fellow believer. If our thoughts are going astray we can work on our next Sunday school lesson if we are a teacher or our next sermon if we are a preacher. I recall some years back in a secular musical of which I have forgotten the name; there was a song that had a line which said, “The idle mind is the devil’s playground.” All I can say to that is AMEN!
As to the practical solution let me share something with you my Pastor taught in a Sunday school class not too long ago. In order to change or control our thought patterns it is vitally necessary to do so within the first FOUR seconds. Think about that. If we do not take action within the first four seconds that gives us time to think that thought we do not want or need a second time. Then it will be there a third time and so forth. Ponder this: Thoughts become desires, desires become actions and actions become habits. There are many habits we do not need in our lives. They are really too endless to name but most of us are aware of them. However some habits are valuable and a great blessing.
We can develop the habit of reading and studying our Bibles.
(Heb 5:14) But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The phrase “by reason of use” as used here literally means by force of habit. It is speaking of the force of habit of reading our Bibles and applying them to our lives. Of course just about everyone who is a Christian is aware of the following verse:
(2Ti 2:15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Oh by the way, since the Bible tells us to study so we can rightly divide the word of truth that means there is someone out there who is not rightly dividing the word of truth. The only way we can discern whether or not a man is rightly dividing the word of truth is to study our Bibles.
We can develop the habit of prayer.
(2Ti 2:15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We can develop the habit of family devotions.
(Pro 22:6) Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
You see friends, there are ways we can fulfill the commands of the verse quoted from 2 Corinthians. It is not some impossible task. What it takes is for us to apply ourselves, as God would have us do and not give in to senseless and worldly things that draw us away from God.
In Christ,
George