Demolition on the Battlefield of the Mind

"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 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

Here is the larger context and another translation:

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ . . ." - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (ESV)

Our minds are battlefields and we are in a battle.

I am in a battle.

I am starting this year with you and, in a couple of days,, I start the next year of my life. This is where I need to work.

This is where I will succeed or fail.

This is where the lines are being drawn.

What do I think?

How do I think?

How shall I discipline my own wandering mind?

How do I squeeze out every moment and every thought for a higher purpose?

How do I come to center, day by day and moment by moment?

I am fairly skillful at argumentation, rationalization, and nullification of real truth. I am good at it and that is not so good. I need to get better at going for the "it of it" all the time and finding focus.

Time is finite.

Thoughts are also finite. We seldom exhaust them, but they have limits. Each one can be purposeful, useful, productive, edifying, and propelling.

May it be so -- not easily so .... but through the battle, may God win.

Oswald Chambers put it this way:

"Determinedly Discipline Other Things. This is another difficult aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul said, according to the Moffatt translation of this verse, “…I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ….” So much Christian work today has never been disciplined, but has simply come into being by impulse! In our Lord’s life every project was disciplined to the will of His Father. There was never the slightest tendency to follow the impulse of His own will as distinct from His Father’s will— “the Son can do nothing of Himself…” (John 5:19). Then compare this with what we do— we take “every thought” or project that comes to us by impulse and jump into action immediately, instead of imprisoning and disciplining ourselves to obey Christ."

Granted, I am lifting this scripture from the context of Paul's idea battle with false teachers in a particular place --- but I also have false teachers inside of me. Each of us does.

If we are going to change thinking around us, we must first change the thinking within us.

This shall be one of my areas of resolve going forward.