The Battle of the Thoughts

         Have you ever found yourself going through a battle with sin in your life? I think that most of us deal with that very thing very often. I get a little newsletter called, “Bible and Life” and this issue is dealing with that topic. It is interesting and applicable to my life even though I am 81 years old. I don't think you ever get passed an age where you don't deal with the sin that goes on and is a constant temptation in our lives. Anyway, I am in total agreement with the article and in it the writer shares 5 disciplines that are needed in overcoming sin in our lives. Second Corinthians 10:5 says, “ 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;”

        I have this verse of Scripture printed out and placed in the folder where I put my sermons. Any time that I preach, this is the last thing I see before I go to the first page of the sermon. It is also the last thing I see when I close the folder after finishing the message. David Dunlap mentions that the first discipline is to have your heart fixed on Christ. That is sometimes easy to say but hard to do. The above verse speaks about casting down imaginations. I really associate with this verse because my imaginations run wild almost all of the time. The word is used only twice in the Bible and the other time is in Romans 2:15 where it is translated as “thoughts.” I won't say that I have a vivid imagination, but I can imagine all kinds of things that won't take place, haven't taken place and probably won't take place in the future. Nevertheless, I imagine them. Someone may be asked to do something. My thought is, “I wonder why they didn't ask me?” “Couldn't I have done it just as well?” “Am I not qualified to do it?” “Why am I being shunned in this area?” You can soon see that my imagination has taken me to the point of despair. The above verse exhorts us to cast down our imaginations, our thoughts that take us away from Christ and put ourselves in the in the forefront of the issue. Rather, we should be casting down the imaginations and bring into captivity all of our thoughts to the obedience of Christ. I think of the hymn, “Turn you eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace.” The religious people of the world try to come up with things that you can do to alleviate the feeling of guilt as the result of sin but they are only temporary salves that come off in the wash and in the end do absolutely nothing. Paul reminded us to indeed fix our attention totally on the Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do. Remember to bring every thought into captivity. Praise God today for the victory that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.